


Ad Astra Per Aspera

by Calvera_draconis, spedicorn



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Angst, Anxiety Disorder, Depression, Domestic Fluff, Kantou-chihou | Kanto Region (Pokemon), Multi, Panic Attacks, Pokemon Battles, Pokemon Journey, Pokemon Training, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, U.A. is a University (My Hero Academia)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:35:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 50,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24028984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calvera_draconis/pseuds/Calvera_draconis, https://archiveofourown.org/users/spedicorn/pseuds/spedicorn
Summary: He sees Aruba jump off his shoulder once the door is open and he's gazing out across the Kanto region with a bright smile and hands curled at his sides. The sunlight beaming down from the azure blue sky dotted with white fluffy clouds that resemble candy floss and the wind tugging at his clothes“Eevee!” Aruba chirps. Izuku's gaze snaps to her as she begins to run off and down the stairs.“Hey wait up!” Izuku calls after her as cheerful laughter fills the air.
Comments: 39
Kudos: 71





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have long been wanting to do this type of AU with a crossover for BNHA and I have finally gotten around to writing it. Though uploading new chapters may be slow, I do hope you are satisfied with this first chapter.
> 
> I thank my beta reader and dear friend @spedicorn for proofreading this and helping the idea grow into a full-fledged fic. 
> 
> → Be careful if you are not okay with mental illness, this may not be your fic to read because there will be a lot of it.
> 
> /\/\/\/\/\/\
> 
> We are glad to finally have finished editing chapter one - straightening out the details for future chapter to come. We know it was a bit sudden, but we are happy to finally be posting the redone chapter. Anyhow, we hope you enjoy it and leave your suggestions and questions in the comments below! <3
> 
> Rewritten on 7/11/20

**Saturday, February 24, 2210**

**Musutafu, Japan**

**Aldera Elementary**

A tense silence fills the principal’s office, the immaculate room seemingly out of place in an elementary school. The windows stream in the afternoon’s evening sunlight, illuminating the trophies and awards artifacts lining the back wall. A dark wood desk bordered by filling cabinets takes up one wall, two chairs sitting in front, feeling more like benches of the damned in a courtroom than seats for naughty children. Izuku finds himself in one, which he shares with his Eevee Aruba, who is curled on his lap. He gently runs his fingers through Aruba's fur, waiting for the principal to announce his fate. His mom is seated next to him, her hands folded in her lap and back straight against the worn chair. She's attentive, while his own stature is pathetic as he stares down past his feet.

The principal coughs, garnering their attention. “I'm sorry to say this, ” — _ no you're not, you sat and watched while it happened  _ — “But your son is getting expelled Mrs. Midoriya, and there’s nothing I can do about it. He’s been warned,” —  _ no I haven’t  _ — “Yet he refused to listen.” The principal says bluntly, as though it has been rehearsed in his head thousands of times until it is ingrained. There is no emotion behind the words spilling from his mouth. No faked pity or frustration for the quirkless boy who is being kicked out of his very own school. No sadness over losing arguably their brightest student. There is simply  _ nothing _ . The principal sits there, giving his speech while twirling his bushy beard in between his index finger, curling the ends, looking like he would rather be doing anything else than deal with the boy in question. 

There's a heavy silence after he finishes, making the stuffy office tense. It's maddening, the silence stretched for far too long as the only sound is the ticking of an analog clock in the corner of the room.

“W—what?” Mom gasps out next to him, seemingly choking on the word that breaks the prolonged silence.

Well, Izuku wasn't phased by the words per- _ say. (Liar) _ . He knew it had been coming for years once he accepted that everyone hated him. Hated his very being over something he has no control over. He's so tired of the constant fighting, the constant bullying that make his walls shake and crack away; slowly shattering like a glass screen— yet — nobody cares and not a single soul but one will even stop to listen to his pleas. ( _ Is it because he is too annoying?) _

Is it because he stands up for others when they are being beaten down? Is it because he stands up for what he thinks is right even when covered in bruises and scratches, caused by 'tripping and falling' and the ever damning ‘boys will be boys’? Izuku wonders why — but he  _ already  _ knows why, it's just accepting it is the difficult part.

Tears brim in his eyes, threatening to overflow and slide down his skin; past the dozens of freckles making up the constellations that decorate his cheeks. The sharp sting of nails digging into his palms cut through the haze that threatens to overwhelm him as he fights the sobs that shake his frame in the claustrophobic, stuffy office room. Where the sound of a clock and the argument between the other occupants in the room usually reside, —  _ at least he thinks it’s an argument, if the way his mom's mouth moves is any indication _ — a static that rings in his ears, loud and blaring like a police siren sits instead. He wonders if the Doppler Effect will make it stop but it simply keeps going and makes the voices next to him fall suddenly quiet and mute.

The sudden silence is unsettling; it reminds him of all the times Kacchan had blown out his eardrums from his explosions, for the simple pleasure of watching as him writhe in pain and struggle to hear any of the lessons in class, as if watching someone weak and defenseless getting hurt is an entertaining show. 

He can feel anxiety choking him as memories of the bullying keep bubbling up his mind like a pool of magma — seemingly digging it's fingers into his neck and squeezing down till bruises cover the burn marks that line the base of his head and on his shoulders. His throat feels right as he swallows down saliva. He feels like a million Butterfree's are twisting and turning in his stomach, making him sick if the bile bubbling in the back of his throat is anything. 

A nudge knocks him out of the swirling thoughts; the hands around his neck loosen just a bit, allowing him to breathe. The touch was soft ( _ not pushedburnedshovedstepped) _ , and doesn't feel like his overactive imagination is playing tricks on him. Tear-blurred eyes land on his partner — his only friend — who sits curled in his lap, worried gaze directed up at him with her own brown eyes staring straight through his own viridian green. 

He wants to reassure her so she won't panic because his emotions are a geiger counter nearing a power plant, but he can't. He wants to tell her he was okay but  _ he isn't.  _ He just wants to reassure his friend — but he won't lie, he can't lie to his friend. ( _ Friends do that _ .) So, Izuku opts to say nothing and lifts up a hand in the air, silently asking for permission to touch her because he doesn't deserve a companion. He doesn't deserve his Eevee — his only friend in this world besides mom's pokémon; he really doesn't deserve anything.

( _ He can almost distantly hear the talking of his mom and principal.  _

_ “—he did? —that—. _

_ “I — ma'am — is.”)  _

As Aruba gently presses her nose against his palm, Izuku stops listening to the adults. The heated pleas in his mother's voice and the firm, uncaring tones of the principal—fading away as he tunes them out, focusing on trying to loosen the hands wrapped around his neck and the lead still lodged in his throat. His heart feels more like a Fletchling in his chest trying to flutter and fly away; trying to break free from the cage Izuku locks it in because there's no way he would ever be free. ( _ Free from his bullies. Free from his tormentor—.) _ Freedom is simply just a word for him that has no meaning and positivity behind it; just despair. 

( _ And that's okay.) _

.

.

.

( _ No it really isn't)  _

A gentle tap shakes him out of his musing and his eyes turn to his mom who smiles at him in the seat adjacent to him; but her smile is obviously fake. It's stretched thin and it shows too many teeth that makes it more forced than anything to be convinced it was real — Izuku knows. He fakes his own smiles at the mirror in the bathroom, watching as his face suddenly lights up and shows too many teeth and eyes curved into near-perfect crescents. But nobody bats an eye because they do not care about him. ( _ Izuku wonders if anyone did because maybe — just maybe his mom is just taking pity on her son who wishes to be a hero despite the laws against him.)  _

Barely concealed anger swirls in her eyes when Izuku looks up at the dark green orbs with a pupil almost like daggers back at the principal. He makes sure to look away though before mom catches him staring. But, the man does not care, still curling his mustache and looking like he would rather be anywhere else than here dealing with him. ( _ He wants to leave too.) _

Mom shouldn't be mad at them, but him — after all, he's the one who got kicked from his school. ( _ For no reason) _ . He is the one with the wrong genetic code that makes him a worthless, quirkless freak. Mom should be mad at him for causing her all this trouble after all, but she isn't — because he knows the anger radiating off of her is directed towards the elephant in the room. ( _ Why would anyone defend someone as worthless as him?) _

“Let's go Izuku.” Mom says in a tight voice that is strained, her hand gripping the helm of her dress tightly — if the increase of creases in the cream material is anything to go by. He can see some strands of her hair rising, showing just how close she was to ranting before breaking into tears. Midoriya's were — after all — emotional to the fault so it was no surprise that her quirk was starting to radiate in the stale air, lifting the split ends of her hair so that they floated a little bit above where they originally rested. It was very interesting to watch, even if the anxiety inside of him coiled even more at the prospect of him being wrong about mom being angry at his used-to-be principal or actually, just at him. 

Izuku furrows his brows, breaking out of his musings so he doesn't get too distracted. He nods, looking back at Aruba. “We're leaving now...do you want to ride on my shoulder or for me to carry you, Aruba?” He asks quietly, careful to keep his voice down — even if it comes out as a low whisper. His voice has never been loud after all, and maybe that was after he had permanently torn his vocal cords from being burned the first time.

Aruba decides for Izuku to carry her, so he does so — carefully picking up the long-eared, brown and cream furred creature in his arms, heading after his mom who opens the door for them both. 

There are no pleasantries shared; it is tense silence that seems to stretch on as his footsteps echo in his ears and the blood rush in his ears seems to be louder than normal — but maybe because his heartbeat was in his throat and not his rib cage anymore? How does that even work? Hell — how does anxiety even work? Though, it is a mental thing — does it suddenly happen? Do you just gain anxiety? Or, is it something you are born with? Like nurture over—

“Izu, you're mumbling again.” Mom chides gently, making his head swing rapidly to look up at her, hearing a loud  _ crack!  _ in his neck at the move and the sudden sharp pain that races up his spine. He momentarily winced, seeing the sudden flash of worry in his mom's eyes. She must have heard the crack then. Before she could reach forward and touch him, Izuku jumped back a bit and made a weak sounding chuckle noise from his throat, rubbing the back of his head shyly. His heart in his throat again as he swallows down rising bile and resists the urge to chew on his fingernails to occupy himself, but he can't since his hands are full — so, he chews on his bottom lip, knowing it was a bad habit if the skin beginning to peel off was any notification.

“Is everything alright?” Mom asks, genuinely worried and Izuku's heart nearly shatters at the tone because he can't explain why he moved out the way. He can't explain that he is afraid of touch ( _ even his own mothers) _ , because he has been hit so many times, pushed into cupboards or down the stairs, and generally beaten the shit out of in the hallways and at recess has installed the fear that resides inside him. Ties his soul in dozens of knots. 

Izuku can't explain that it's hard to look his mom in the eye, how he has problems speaking and accepting compliments because no one called on him and no one complimented him — only ridiculing and throughout insults. ( _ Stupid, worthless, pathetic; flowers on his desk.)  _ He was simply — just a punching bag at school and even the thought doesn't make him as sick as it once does — Izuku solely accepted it. So, his eyes stay downcast, staring at Aruba as they pull to a stop in the illuminated hallway. 

  
  


“Y-y-yeah.” Izuku stutters, lying through his teeth as he resists the urge to break down crying in front of her. ( _ Pathetic) _ . To curl up and sob in the hallways he will never walk through again because he isn't  _ alright.  _ He isn't okay and he just wants to cry for days on end because his life has just been knocked off of it's pole. 

He hates lying, but here he is — lying to his mom because he doesn't want to worry her anymore. He doesn't want to be a bigger burden — because he is a burden to everyone and everything around him. He can do it by himself, he always has.

The look she gives him is skeptical at best — so maybe she saw through the facade that is slowly crumbling within it's tightly woven tightly. Maybe, she will bring it up later when they are back at home and not in a hallway where cameras watch but no one watches behind the screen.

“Alright, will talk about what to do next when we get home.” Mom sighed, once she realized she wasn't going to get another word out of him.

He hopes she forgets.

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Saturday, February 24, 2210**

**Musutafu, Japan**

**Midoriya Household**

  
  


She remembers.

It's obvious in the stillness of the living room where the only sound is the TV currently on and playing the news. Filling in the awkward silence that wasn't here yesterday. Even Sobble looks like they are going to cry for the fourth or fifth time today at the table and it shows — if the small tears leaking from their eyes is anything to go by.

“So,” Mom begins, setting down her pair of chopsticks next to her Riku Udon bowl. She chooses her words carefully as she breaks the silence, trying not to upset her Sobble anymore today despite its tears already having formed a puddle. Audino is doing their best at comforting them, but it really isn't working...at all. “What are you going to do now?”

Izuku halts his movements, setting down the chopsticks holding up thick noodles into the bowl. “I...” the words taste like chalk in his mouth, shooting a glance out of the corner of his eye at Aruba who looks just as sad as him. He doesn't know what he will do now, since — a mark on his record is a big thing that shot all of his dreams out of the sky. Izuku can say goodbye to U.A. now because his now immaculate record has a permanent stain that he won't be able to get rid off and that — honestly, makes the feeling of Butterfree's in his stomach return because, he likes to plan everything out, yet — what can he do now? He can't go back to school; homeschooling is an option which would be his best bet to completing his education — but what about college? Does college still accept people with marks on their record? Is it possible to appeal it in some way?

“I don't know.” Izuku finally admits after a while, rubbing the back off his head sheepishly. He almost forgets the lump in his throat.

Mom sighs in the chair across from him making Izuku battle for oxygen as his throat closes up and he suddenly can barely breathe. Why is she sighing? Did he do something bad? Well — he did just get kicked out of school, but, is she mad about that or hates him now? It wouldn't be the first time someone hates him because he can't control probability. 

“I knew you would say that, so. ” Izuku blinks in surprise at his mother's words, furrowing his brows in confusion. Trying to ignore the spark of anxiety in his chest or the way she already knew. “I think you should go on a journey.” 

Feeling as though the rug has been pulled from underneath his feet, with how he nearly toppled out of his chair in shock. Settling on sitting there in his seat, despite how he knew nothing of what a  _ journey  _ meant or was. But why did mom seem so sad but uttering that one word, like it was a heavy weight set upon her shoulders — like the grandfather clock in the room ticking away.

The pokémon at the table had paused their eating, Aruba — like himself — looking at her in complication. Audino and Sobble (who had stopped crying) simply tilted their heads in confusion, Audino giving a curious and confused glance — maybe they knew what mom meant. After all, Audino was mom's first pokémon. 

But even then what did she mean? How was he supposed to go on a journey in a city without any quirk and one pokémon to protect themselves? Even then, many facilities for training to get ready for a journey didn't allow him to be there, considering his status as a plague needing to be eradicated and that his pokémon was considered too weak. 

Realizing his mom was still waiting for an answer, Izuku carefully pondered what he was supposed to say. He had no knowledge of a journey, let alone even knew what he was supposed to try and accomplish with the word. “What?” Izuku ends up saying instead, drawing an amused reaction from mom who simply raises her eyebrow and takes a sip of her water. 

“Like — I mean.” Stumbling over his words, Izuku begins to wave his arms, trying to portray what he was utterly failing to say. “What do you mean? Like a journey? But where or how? Quirkless aren't accepted in Japan at all so how can I go on a journey or really do what you say? I mean — I can try but I have no idea what you really mean— like — what about your job? Would you have to quit to accompany me? Or like—.”

“Izuku.” Mom cuts him off, looking at him with soft trodden dark green eyes. She isn't mad — not at the slightest if her body language and tone is anything to go by — Izuku could almost theorize she was  _ scared  _ or just nervous. “This information I'm about to share — don't tell anyone okay? The Hero Commission doesn't like to tell anyone about it because they're bastards.” 

He gives a nod, agreeing with the second part of her statement — though, he is surprised she said "bastard" when she rarely even comes close to swearing, no matter what the situation was. So — this must be pretty serious then. But, he wonders what she has been hiding because there's that look in her eyes that says something he can't decipher.

Mom inhales a sharp breath that makes the hairs on the back of his neck rise, as she let's it out. Taking another sip of her drink and looking anywhere but him. 

“Regions, or countries if that is what you want to call them — they're the same thing. They have what's called a pokémon journey, full with routes and their own cities — towns, really anything.” Inko pointed out, taking another collected sip of her drink as she swirled it around in the ceramic mug. “These regions have Pokémon Leagues or competitions, where trainers compete against each other as they raise their pokémon.” She pauses, choosing her words carefully as Izuku just stares wide-eyed and in shock at the words, trying to process the influx of information. His mouth agape and fingernails digging into the helm of his pants as he waited eagerly. Aruba was even intently staring with excitement bubbling in her brown eyes. “Your father came from the Alola region, which is one out of the eight other regions that exist outside of Japan.”

Izuku's eyes widened even more; Dad? Dad came from one of these mysterious regions? Does that mean he is still living there? Is that why he isn't home as much because he lives there and can't always come to visit, even though he claims he tries? He wonders why she brings this up now when mom doesn't talk about dad much. “Regions? What do you mean by regions? Do they have their own language and technology? Is dad still in Alola right now? Is that why he doesn't come home often because he has a job in one of these regions? Can you tell me more, please?” Izuku asks, having gotten out of his seat to bounce up and down in excitement, knowing there would be a noise complaint from their downstairs neighbor about him jumping up and down, but — there were regions! How cool was that!?

A bubbly laugh escaped mom, tilting her head back so that her face was pointed towards the ceiling as she did so. Hands clasped together and the sound like wind chimes jingling in his ears left Izuku still smiling but not jumping up and down as he stared. “Ah, just wait a bit Izu dear, I still haven't finished.” Mom pointed out, but Izuku could see the hidden pain in her eyes. 

Stamping down the squeal wanting to burst forth from his chest, Izuku wrung his hands together and tapped his foot, trying to not rock back and forth as he waited. 

“What I said earlier — that I want you to go on a journey — I mean it.” Mom swallows, small tears forming in her eyes, her head pointed towards entangled hands on the table. Scared and hesitant. 

Izuku wonders why his mom feels that way.

“Mom,” Izuku cuts through the silence warily, a tentative hand reaching out across the table to grasp her own. “You don't have to say it if you don't want too — I can wait.”  _ Even if the curiosity is chewing me out from the inside. _

She shakes her head in denial, something that makes his heart slightly sting in pain. “No — I have to say this.” Mom inhales another breath trying to get herself situated in what to sap; once or twice before looking back up at him with guilt-ridden eyes and Izuku wonders  _ why _ . She wrings her hands more, waiting a bit before she begins speaking. “I know about the bruises and the burns.”

Izuku's world stills as though the Earth has stopped spinning, and he has been knocked off of his axis right onto the ground. Swept underneath his feet and onto his back. His brain is short-circuiting and breath completely stopping as it's stuffed into his throat full of cotton. His eyes blow wide so that they reflect fear and the pain hidden deep below in the emeralds. Hands are clenched by his side, fingernails digging into his palms; his body frozen in place as his eyes turn away from his mom with teeth clenched. 

“I'm sorry.” Mom says next, making Izuku still in what he was going to say next. His head snapping back up to stare at her wide-eyed. 

She's in tears, slowly dribbling down her face but all Izuku can think is: why? Why is she sorry? Why is she sad? Why is she suggesting he is going on a journey? Why?

So he asks: “Why?” 

The word spills from him like a leaky tap, eyes staring through her like a mirage. He isn't curious — he wants to know why, because she shouldn't be sorry for something you can't control, but she is apologizing and he doesn't understand. He should be apologizing. He should be sorry. His mom shouldn't have to carry his burden that has been with him since aged four. 

She looks up and stares; dark green locked onto toxic green. “Because, I never caught on. I didn't know until it was too late.”

_ Too late for what? _

“Because I hid it from you.” Izuku bites back instantly, regretting his own words that leak from his mouth. ( _ He didn't mean to say that.)  _ Wincing at his own tone that sounds angry, but it is defeated. The words are chalky, just like the saliva coating his mouth and the cotton stuffed in his throat still choking him. His fingers dig into his shorts, unable to stabilize himself as tears brim to the surface, rolling down his cheeks in small streamlines. The redness of his eyes and nose returned. 

Her eyes widen, and more tears slip past her eyes just like Izuku's who has already given up hiding his tears. His mouth is still in a straight line that wobbles uncomfortably because he is so close to breaking down, so he stares down at the golden hardwood floors, thinking it will answer all his problems. “How long?” Mom asks.

Izuku doesn't answer, staring at his palms.

“Izuku,” he glances up, only for a second to see his mom hovering in front of him. “How long has it been since Bakugou turned on you?” 

He swallows, “Since — since I was diagnosed quirkless.” 

And mom comes barreling into his body, knocking him back a few steps as soon as the words are said. Her hands wrap around him instantly to support his body that goes slack in her hold, with one hand combing through his tangled locks of hair, and the other gripping his shirt to pull him into a motherly hug. Salty tears are rolling down her face, causing his clothes to become wet but Izuku doesn't care. He doesn't care about how his skin itches uncomfortably in the hold, the faint prickling of bruises and explosions against his skin being rubbed uncomfortably. The sloppy bandages around his torso being shifted — Izuku only wraps his arms around her waist, burying his head into her stomach and letting out a small, choked sob that seems to break the dam that makes more tears spill from his eyes. 

His mouth feels heavy, too weak to open as his eyes sting from each droplet of tear that escapes, drenching the shirt in front of him. 

Izuku can feel Aruba next to him, offering silent comfort just like the Audino who has their arms wrapped around them both, with Sobble perched on top of their head. 

“Izuku,” He doesn't look up when she addresses him, only nodding against her stomach to show he is listening. He's afraid to finally burst and drench the floors, like her shirt. “I mean it when I say to go on a journey. I want you to go on a journey.”

Izuku freezes in her grip, before gentle hands draw circles through his shirt, making him go slack again. “Why?” He chokes on the word, wondering why his mom wants him to leave the home he has known for ten years to just —  _ leave  _ and do a journey that people in Japan rarely do. He's scared because what will he find? What will happen to him out there without his mom? Do they discriminate against the quirkless in these regions? What if they don't accept him just like what everyone else does? “I don't want to leave home... _ leave you.” _

_ I'm afraid but I'm too scared to tell you,  _ goes unsaid. But it is heard by both parties.

“I know, but — you can't stay here — you know it.” Mom begins, cutting off his choke of indignation with a firm squeeze that presses against his ribcage a bit too harshly. “The regions — they aren't as biased as you would think to believe, they are understanding and accepting those who are quirkless. Quirks do not mean everything to them like it does in Japan. You'll be happy — that's all I want you to be.”

Tears still cascade down his face, falling to his knees as he drags his mom down with him. Finally tilting his head back to gaze up. “But...I don't want to leave you alone mom.” Izuku uses his sleeve to wipe away the new tears brimming in his eyes, sniffling as quietly as he could. “And how would I even get there? Didn't you say the Hero Commission barely allows those to visit?”

Mom places a finger against his lips, shutting him up. “I will be fine, Izu, there's no need for you to worry about me.” She smiles, a heartfelt smile that makes his own lips pull into a small smile despite himself not wanting to. “Your happiness comes first after all.”

He hasn't been all that happy, but he can't help but curl his lips that push up his cheeks and makes his eyes fill with water as he smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Beta spedicorn here. This chapter was tweaked a bit, so if you've already read it you might notice some changes!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We're going to be in the sky soon.” Izuku points out, lifting a finger to press it against the glass in front of where a plane currently resides, connected to one of those metal tubes.
> 
> “Vee!” Aruba chirps, and Izuku ruffles the top of her head, careful to avoid irritating her sensitive ears. A smile pulls at his lips despite the lingering sadness and small amount of pain in his viridian eyes, which seemed to grow bigger as the minutes count down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! We are finally excited to bring the second installment of Ad Astra! We are trying to establish a schedule so chapters can happen more often, but it's a bit slow going due to our personal lives.
> 
> My co-creator, Spedicorn, beta read this! So shout out to her for putting up with my terrible grammar and chipping in with many ideas as to where this AU will lead.

**Wednesday August 1, 2210**

**Musutafu, Japan**

**Tokyo International Airport**

White and fluffy clouds drifted lazily across the multicolored sunset that paints the sky on the evening of the first day of August; stretching and spreading like cotton candy. Izuku's eyes were glued onto them, looking through the windows on the other side of the airport that gazed out across the runway. Planes were moving, landing, and beginning to take off as they picked up speed. Luggage carts drifted around on the dark asphalt, unloading and loading baggage from the planes — just like the people that were running around in bright clothing or driving the vehicles that moved around like a well-oiled machine, the sun's rays highlighting them even more than normal. 

A plane took off into the sky, the noise it created vibrating in the air as Izuku watched it go, flying away into the atmosphere to who knows where. 

“See that Aruba?” Izuku addressed his Eevee currently situated on his black trousers, since he is sitting down on the carpeted floor that is the airport, not bothering to take a seat in the provided chairs or stand up — the floor was rather comfortable after all, even if lifting his head up for too long provided a small strain on his lower back. His backpack straps didn't help the growing pain either,it was heavy, yet he refused to take it off — fearing he may forget it behind.

“We're going to be in the sky soon.” Izuku points out, lifting a finger to press it against the glass in front of where a plane currently resides, connected to one of those metal tubes.

“Vee!” Aruba chirps, and Izuku ruffles the top of her head, careful to avoid irritating her sensitive ears. A smile pulls at his lips despite the lingering sadness and small amount of pain in his viridian eyes, which seemed to grow bigger as the minutes count down. 

His hands tap on his thighs almost unconsciously, eyes drifting back and forth from the plane to the sky, or back at Aruba who senses his nervousness and presses her wet nose against his palm, trying to offer a sense of grounding or comfort that Izuku appreciates. Despite her efforts, however, his anxiety was starting to climb and scale back up his esophagus, ready to take him down just like hours before when he first arrived at Tokyo's National Airport with his mom.

Speaking off his mom; Izuku turns to look at her, tilting his head back a little to look at her currently reading on her phone. The way her dark green eyes drifted lazily across the screen, hands kneading her flower-themed, long skirt or tugging at the sleeves of the white shirt she wore. The sunflower straw hat covering the top half of her head.

It wasn't until she glanced up did she see him looking, a small smile spreading across her face in response. “Izu, are you excited?” Mom asks, making the heavy feeling in his chest return immediately, causing his movements to still and body freeze. The way it plunges him back into the black, icy cold waters and sends the shock rippling beneath his skin, covering it in bits and pieces of ice that are hard to shake off. His toes and fingers are numb, just like his body in which he can't feel from the blast of cold. 

His breath hitches, but he gives a fake smile that he knows his mom notices. “I'm fine.” The words sound wrong to his ears. Too far away, like he is at the beginning of a tunnel and his scratchy, hoarse voice from last night's crying is bouncing back on him, echoing around without a care in the world. Even if it grates on his ears and he can hear every hitch and every muffled sob he made last night as he cried himself asleep.

Inko pursued her lips together, glancing at him with eyes that seemingly pierce through his skull and nitpick at everything he does with precision and accuracy. They read him so closely; like an artwork in a gallery, but mom doesn't say anything, further souring Izuku's mood. 

Izuku turns away, trying to quell the guilt curling in his chest and how scared he is; because what is Kanto like? What will it bring? Will he finally be accepted there? Mom said he won't face discrimination there since heroes aren't big, but she can't really know for certain. That's why he didn't bring any hero merch to wear despite him wanting too, and opted for simple black trousers and a white short sleeve t-shirt with a red and black checkered flannel he didn't know he owned before packing. Despite the lack of meroraphilia, he was happy with his new look, despite the fact something felt  _ missing.  _

“ **_Attention, Flight 34A will now be boarding. May passengers that are rank A come forth, please, ”_ ** the ticket reader exclaimed at the gate, a line quickly forming alongside the entrance. 

His breath hitched, dread settling into his bones as the plane ticket next to his phone felt heavier than before in his pocket, but he grit his teeth and slowly stood up carefully to avoid getting a rush of lightheadedness as he turned to his mom who had tears in her eyes.

“Izu, ” his mom sniffled, using the back of her hand to brush away tears, “You're going to be a big boy now, and I hope you remember to call me so I can hear about your travels okay? I want to hear your voice.”

Swallowing the lead creating up his throat like vines, Izuku nods, still not making a sound in case he breaks down into tears in the airport. Aruba offers nudges with her wet noise into his hand as a silent comfort.

“Here.” Mom takes off her pale straw-hat, the one with sunflowers on one part of the base decorated with a black ribbon tied up neatly in a bow amongst the flowers. She set it on top of his head, smothering down his dark green curls so that it fits, with the string combing to knock against the bottom of his chin. “Take my hat, it will be yours now.” 

Mom paused, mulling over what to say if the way her optics seemed to ghost over him for a sec. “And get going, Izu, your group is boarding.”

Izuku stared, tears still brimming in his eyes that he tried to brush away with his hands. The movement made Aruba slip out of his grasp and clamber up his shoulder, pressing her fitted cheek against his own. 

Against his better judgment, Izuku rushed forward, engulfing his mother in a quick hug that spoke more than words could ever do. The way he squeezed tightly, holding onto her for dear life, his face quickly burying itself in her stomach and leaving a small, unnoticeable wet patch of salty tears; before stepping back, staring at his pillar and the person who has raised him for ten years about to fly away, because the eagle chick was ready to leave the nest and he wondered if the choice was right. ( _ Right when he could be wrong. Wrong because he could be right) _ . But, he wanted to fly and spread his wings despite the homesickness and anxiety urging him to stay and wait a few more years, but he knew that wasn't possible to stay. To stay in a country that sought power over personality and knowledge. Who sought to control the weak and manipulate the powerful. He couldn't stay and had to find his own path to take to try and fit in — or maybe standing out was better? Maybe it was better to never fit in because he wanted to be himself? He wondered if it was right to think this way, but he didn't know, and maybe that was the best because ignorance was bliss and some answers remained the best unanswered. 

Shaking out of his thoughts, Isuku let a few tears dribble down and a bright smile grace his lips. It's pull stretched taut like a bowstring, yet it was wide like the cartoonish mouse of Mickey with teeth showing and eyes pushed up into crescents from the dimples on his cheek. “Alright, mom.” his voice wobbles, breaking a bit on the word 'mom', but the smile shines as bright as it always does. “I love you.”

“And I have always loved you too.” Mom replies easily, a smile brimming at her lips despite the tears falling from her eyes. And Izuku wonders if she's sad knowing her chick has left the nest and is about to fly into the unknown.

He turns, walking away towards the front desk. Brushing away tears that Aruba tries to lick off his face.

The heavy feeling in his chest is still there, but somehow, the weight feels lighter than before.

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Thursday August 2, 2210**

**Viridian, Kanto**

**Viridian International Airport**

“—kid, we're landing.” someone says, cutting through the fog that is Izuku's sleep hazed mind. The sudden touch of a stranger on him, rocking him back and forth so that he wakes up makes him suddenly jolt awake; waking up Aruba in the process who currently sits on the book he was reading about Kanto on his lap with his flannel around her. 

His breath catching in his throat, hitching ever so quietly in the filled plane that doesn't have that many passengers surprisingly — docking in at ninety-six — but, his eyes widened nevertheless. The ghost's fingerprints from the touch felt like his skin had been dunked in ice-cold water as it burned in the open air. But, Izuku bit his lip and turned to the stranger next to him who had greying hair and kind brown eyes ( _ not a burning red and spiky blonde—)  _ despite the fact he was two seconds away from a panic attack or a mental breakdown — maybe even both if the way his breath was quickening and heartbeat was in his throat was any indicator — Izuku kept quiet. Tightening his grip on the helm of his pants and trying to keep the tremors out of his body despite how he was internally panicking.

Not trusting his voice, Izuku nodded at the stranger, his mouth wobbling.

They gave a small smile at him that Izuku couldn't respond too, happy to see that he was awake before turning their eyes onto the smartphone in hand. It makes Izuku blink, looking at the device he's familiar with, considering it may be a good idea to call his mom once he's landed from the four-hour flight, but that thought makes the homesickness return and the smartphone feel heavy in his pocket. 

He doesn't reach for his phone, letting it sit in his pocket as Izuku turns to look out towards the window. Breath pausing in his throat as he inched closer to the window, feeling Aruba duck underneath his arm to stare outside with him.

The Kanto Region — the region Inko had suggested due to her remembering a pokémon professor by the name of Samual Oak that Hisashi knew. She never did tell the full story. Gazing at the region from above, Izuku found that the region looked beautiful from above. He could see the gleaming highlights of cities revealed by the rising sun, dotting the landscape that thick, green forests and gentle rolling hills covered. The mountain range loomed towards the west and north, encompassing the region. But what took him for a whirl was how green and  _ lively  _ it looked, with its formation of a curled up Charizard and a lonely island stranded out in front of the lake that dug deep into it. It was so different from Mufatsu, where trash washed up on beaches and the air smelled of oil and grime, more skyscrapers and buildings than you could count, just looming from the horizon line.

Taking out his phone, Izuku quickly puts it up against the glass and takes pictures from all angles. He does like photography, despite everyone teasing him for such a 'girly' hobby.

He wondered what it was like on the ground. The ground was starting to become more intricate and easier to see, just like the airport where buildings stood high and planes bordered the corridors. Yet — it was easy to notice just how small it was compared to Tokyo's International Airport with less runways and small buildings. Though, it did serve the same purpose in transporting people, so Izuku wasn't in a place to judge the size of the airport. Besides, he quite liked how exuberant the green scenery was surrounding the airport that made it light up like stars in the night. Though, the real highlight of the descent — other than the sudden jerks and the lurches of his stomach into his throat — was the water that became increasingly clear the lower they got. Shimmering against the highlight of the sun with shadows of pokémon jumping into the air; none that he recognized. 

The feeling of the plane hitting the runway made Izuku jump in his seat, the seatbelt the only thing holding him despite how he was lurched forward before slammed against the back of his seat with fear in his eyes and a very sick feeling curling in his stomach. Clutching onto Aruba for dear life as the sudden cacophony of noise of whirring engines hiding beneath the long wings spiked in his ears and the plane began to rapidly slow to a halt on the runway. The feeling of being pushed back and pushed forward made him feel sick, but it soon stopped when the plane came to a halt. 

A large sigh of relief escaped Izuku, happy for that to end as he curled in on himself. Head digging into the seat in front of him as he looked to control and try to mute his senses that felt re-arranged; too loud, too soft and needed more work conducted on it. 

But, he was happy to finally be on the ground.

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

“You must be Izuku Midoriya.” The lady in front of him said in an accented, chipper voice once he stepped off of the plane and into the airport that was so much different than Tokyo's. 

Her eyes were a molton brown, gleaming off of the sunlight that refracted through the windows surrounding them that they almost just seemed to glow, small fireworks popping in them. She wears a lab coat thrown over a dark blue shirt that clings to her skin and a pair of khaki trousers that fall to her knees. A weird clothes pairing, but somehow it fits along with dark blue hair that is styled in dreadlocks and chocolate brown skin. ( _ He grows a bit self-conscious off his own outfit and ruffled appearance.) _

“I'm Marissa! I was brought here to pick you up so we can go to Professor Oak's lab since you may not know where it is.” Marissa chirps, her heavy Kanto accent lacing every word, making it hard to decipher what she was saying in her broken Japanese. Though, Izuku thought, at least she was trying to get past the language barriers and attempt to speak the complicated system of Japanese. He couldn't help but at least attempt to speak in Kantonian since he was a visitor and knew a great-deal of it after five months of studying it.

Izuku nods, flashing a brittle smile in her direction and responds with a short, “Ciao.” Watching her eyes widen as he spoke. 

“Where are we exactly in Kanto?” He asks, breaking the fragile silence that has fallen over them. His voice feels like it is cracking, or the strain of trying to switch over to the Kanto region language that is so similar yet so different then his native Japanese is wearing down his mind in the memory department. Even Aruba's attempts to comfort him, such as pressing her nose against his palm or rubbing the side of her cheek against his arm does little to break through the nervousness and tightening off his throat. 

Marissa has a smile that is kind as it spreads over her face, seemingly excited at the question. The sort of motherly smile that spreads slowly over her cheeks, forming dimples and crinkling the skin around her eyes. “We're in Viridian City! It's not that far away from Pallet Town — so about a thirty minute drive to where Professor Oak's lab is!” She chirps giddily in her native language, waving her hand in the air as she beckons him to follow as she walks down the not-so-filled airport and towards — the garage? He can't read the signs yet, he focused on learning to speak Kantonian in the five months since he was expelled rather than how to read it. 

He doesn't trust her, even if he knows it's just his paranoia and anxiety urging him to not get close to an adult because they'll betray him in the end. So he stays just a few meters away, providing personal distance despite how he craves close contact being in an unfamiliar area, but — he's too scared to attempt to get close. 

Aruba senses his plight and rubs her cheek up and along his clothed arm, providing comfort that doesn't make his skin itch from sensitivity or prickle in the loss of content. Trying to ignore how his chest tightens, the coil wanting to strangle him as he trudges after the cheerful professor? Doctor? Assistant? She never did give her position but Izuku concludes she may be an assistant due to how she states it's not her lab, but Professor Oak's.

What does Professor Oak's laboratory look like anyhow? He's never really heard of him before and he seems to be popular here in Kanto — so, a regional professor maybe? Does that mean the different regions have one main professor out of the whole region? That doesn't make sense, since the population of a region may be large and one sole professor may be unable to accommodate everyone — unless, there is more than one professor but just in different cities? Does that mean there is one professor for each major infrastruc—

“You sure do tend to mumble.” Marissa piped up, the sudden noise making Izuku jump into the air at the sudden noise that brings back memories. His viridian eyes snap to her face before stepping back in fear. Her eyes held questions in them, mouth opening before it paused.

The grin that was on her face melted off as she noticed the flinch but said nothing about it, though, there was a hard look in her eyes as she scanned over him like an interesting research subject. Making his skin itch and mouth turn dry as he turned away entirely and towards the view outside as they neared the garage. 

“I-I-I,” Izuku stammered, not wanting to have her get the wrong idea and salvage this situation. “I'm sorry! I just have a habit of mumbling," he exclaimed, dropping into a ninety degree bow with Aruba pulled against his chest. Voice tinged with nervousness and mouth pulled into a wobbly smile that feels as taut as a bowstring against his lips. 

She blinks, raising her eyes in surprise.“You don't need to bow to apologize, it was my fault anyway for scaring you.” Marissa admitted as Izuku paused, his breath catching in his throat as he raised up from his bow.  _ He didn't know adults apologized. Was this normal? _ “But — are you okay though? I want to make sure before we get to the car.”

“Yes.” The lie rolls off his tongue just as easily as water does on a porcelain surface. Cementing the lie with a grin and a withheld flinch from the hand on his shoulder steering him towards the car. Despite the monster looming over him and the knife against his throat threatening him to tell her to get off — he says nothing and keeps it together like a taped up vase.

He feels bad about lying but — then again — it is nothing new.

He lies to everyone, even himself.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

  
  


“Did you know Eevee's are actually native to Kanto?” Marissa said, her loud, boisterous voice cutting through the air like a knife. It makes Izuku slightly jump in the seat adjacent to her, tensing up with an arm slightly raised to block off an incoming attack before he realizes; he isn't being attacked and he is too on edge as he lowers his arm back down carefully. Testing the waters before it lays on top of his lap again where Aruba currently resides. 

Her eyes catch his, a smile still on her lips before she goes back to staring at the road. The car occasionally rose when rocks were driven over.

The rolling fields stretch far and wide with pokémon travelling through them in different shapes, sizes, and species; just like the Pidgeys and Butterfree flying in the air. The wind lifting them high into the sky and making flying seem so easy for them with the August sun beating down on them, making sweat bead down his forehead. Izuku's eyes widen at the way the flying type pokémon glides through the air, hands itching for a notebook to record data, even if he knows the wind wouldn't allow him to work well. 

He's never had a pokédex to work with; those were reserved for heroes in Japan. So Izuku improvised by observing and cataloging pokémon he came across until it became an ingrained habit that led to him carrying a notebook and pencil everywhere. Documenting weaknesses and strengths against certain types — like how dragon types were weak against ice and fairy type moves or how even with a type advantage, the fighter could still lose depending on the strength of the opponent. Despite the diversity of pokémon found in the city, he couldn't study their moves, and watching hero fights was dangerous in itself — even if it was for the pursuit of knowledge. 

He wonders if in the wild pokémon act differently than those who are more… domesticated? Is that the right word? But — do they? Would that mean obtaining another friend— pokémon be easier or difficult? 

“We're here!” Marissa exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air as the car rolls to a stop on the dirt road outside a gate, and Izuku finally snaps out of his thoughts, to gaze around the area of Professor Oak's lab. Izuku gazed on the lab seated past the gate and up the hill. The red roofs and yellow paint stood out starkly against the trees bordering the side of the grassy hill. 

A river ran by next to the road with a pale wood bridge connecting it to the other side. Trees and mountains were all Izuku could see past the other barren dirt road. The foliage was too thick for him to see any sort of pokémon despite how much he really wanted too. But he didn't voice any of that disappointment and grabbed his large travel bag currently seated between his legs, and threw it over his shoulders, wincing at the sudden weight that now rested there. Especially when Aruba decided to make good use of his shoulder and climb up; her fifteen-pounds not at all helping his plight, but he didn't say anything; too afraid to voice his opinion on anything. 

Grabbing his mom's — his hat right — and squishing it down onto his head, Izuku opened the door and slid out onto the ground. Finally feeling his legs that had fallen asleep on the drive, Izuku closed the door and began jogging after Marissa who was standing there holding the gate open.

“There's a lot of stairs.” Marissa pointed out, gesturing to the concrete slabs of stairs that were dug into the hilltop side.

Izuku nodded, passing through the gate and beginning the trek up the stairs. His eyes searching along the horizon the higher he climbed, watching the world grow wider and wider around him. 

It's beautiful; with its mountain ranges and acres of forest and meadows. The air smells like fresh cut grass and water — cleaner than he has ever experienced before — but that was easy to surpass, especially when Mufatsu had a literal dumpsite as a beach. Yet, it still takes his breath away as he gazes out with viridian eyes of the plateau before they reach the top.

He wrinkles his nose, looking at the building that could use a better paint scheme. He was quickly distracted from his thoughts on the building when he saw the pokémon that surrounded the lab, eyes widening at them. 

There were so many that he has never seen before! There was one that looked like a rat, purple with a pale underbelly in color. Another one was a yellow-colored armadillo thing that had long claws protruding from its front limbs. There were others, but Izuku never got to let his gaze linger on them as Aruba gently smacked him with her paw to get focused on something that he failed to do. Swiveling his gaze to the front, he found himself staring at the esteemed Professor Oak — well that was what Marissa said about him that he was famous — currently standing there with a white lab coat falling to his knees underneath the khaki leggings and the red polo shirt. Greying hair and warm obsidian eyes staring straight back at him that Izuku almost momentarily flinches.

“So you are the new trainer!” Professor Oak says. “I heard about you from Hisashi!” His voice is warm, almost jolly as he beckons them inside his lab which Izuku eagerly enters, excited to see what a Pokémon Professor's lab looked like on the inside than on the outside. But his mind lingers on the comment about his dad as he enters the building. 

Did that mean his dad was a professor? He never really talked about his job when he was home, well — Izuku never really listened to his parents chattering since it was parent stuff and he didn't even want to listen to it (something he was kicking himself over now). Maybe he could call him and ask? But isn't there a heavy timezone difference in Alola vs. Kanto's timezone?

Izuku shakes his head, finally focusing on the lab he has entered, wondering where his inside shoes were before realizing that he wasn't in Japan and had no need for inside shoes. “Hello to you too Professor!”

Scientists mill around, as he watches Marissa sneak off to who knows where though he did notice her by one of the stations near the window. There's steps leading up to pokéballs that reside along the wall, just like the strange machine. Though, his eyes linger on the books with words he could vaguely recognize. He did need to work on his Kantonian, which would be pretty easy since he had his phone and laptop.

“I'm surprised! You just arrived yet you are speaking almost fluent Kantonian.” Professor Oak said, making Izuku redden at being complimented. He really hasn't been complimented in a while by an older figure that wasn't his mom or dad, they had all stopped when he had never received his quirk — leading to social isolation that makes him stomach curl and mouth fill with bile as his mind suddenly turns from bubbly and inquisitive to dark thoughts that bloom in his mind like a thunderstorm and somehow, despite how sincere the professor sounded — Izuku feels as though it's fake because his dad is possibly a professor and they just want to get in on his good graces. Or maybe that's just his stewing mind unable to accept a compliment. Or maybe it is fake — Izuku can't tell in tones of voices; only in expressions. 

He watches as they walk up the small flight of stairs near the corner of the immaculate lab. Grabbing a red device from off the shelves before walking back down and facing him, Professor Oak holds the strange device out to him that makes Izuku squint at it before looking back up with an inquisitive look. 

“This is a pokédex. An electronic device designed to catalogue and provide information regarding the various species of pokémon. The pokédex is always being updated — and from what Hisashi told me that you are an avid note taker — mind helping fill out the pokédex?” Oak asks; still in that chipper tone.

Swallowing the bile still in his mouth, Izuku takes the red device gingerly and turns it around, hiding his sudden shock at being trusted with a device like this. Almost dropping it from his shaky hands are as he turns back to look at the elder in front of him. Unsure of what to say. “A-are you sure?” Izuku asks instead, fidgeting and rubbing circles over the cool red metal, “With giving me this device?” 

“Why of course!” Professor Oak exclaims, almost making Izuku drop into a tear-jerking mess right here in the laboratory for being trusted with something valuable. That it makes his eyes just a little but misty as he listens. “I trust you to update it with the knowledge you gain from your journey and fill it to the best of your ability.” 

It turns out, Izuku does not need to say anything as Aruba takes the lead and lets out a loud “Vee!” from his shoulder, nodding her head up and down that Izuku soon follows, grateful at the chance of proving himself. Even if he doesn't exactly know what to fill the pokédex with. Stopping once he feels slightly dizzy and disorientated, the bile having returned as he flashes a wane smile at Professor Oak to cover up his shaking hands and the gnawing expectations now put upon him as he stares at the device because what kind of information did the professor want? Like something resembling his notes but in an electronic device?

Professor Oak laughs, jarring him out of his thoughts. He looks absolutely excited that his enthusiasm almost transfers over to Izuku who feels his smile edge up higher despite the Butterfree's in his stomach. “That's what I like to hear!”

“Before you go though.” The sudden voice of Marissa makes Izuku jump, taking a few steps back. Holding the device tighter than he means too, Izuku turns towards Marissa who is holding five shrunken down pokéballs in her outstretched hand. A sheepish smile on her face when he finally glanced up.

“Woops! Forgot how jumpy you are.” Marissa apologizes, rubbing the side off her head with the palm of her hand. “I take it you don't have extra pokéballs.” Izuku nods, slipping the pokédex into his breast pocket. Was he supposed to have extra? The lab back home never did give him extra ones; though, he did have a feeling they didn't even want to give him Eevee either. 

“Thank you, Marissa! I must have forgotten that Japan doesn't have the same regulations that we do.” Professor Oak said and Izuku blinks in confusement. 

“Mmm yeah — but anyway," Marissa began, taking a lecturer mode aspect as she stands up straighter and her smile mellows out as she speaks. “At each of the region's main laboratories they give starters, six pokéballs, and often a pokédex. You already have a starter so you don't need one from us.” She explained, whilst Izuku nodded along, glancing back and forth between the two. 

Stretching a tentative hand out, Izuku grabbed the six pokéballs, careful to not come in contact with her skin out of preference, and slipped them into his backpack. He could find someplace else to put them soon.

“Now, off you go! Take Route one, it will lead you to Viridian City — it’s where the first gym is located! Remember there are trainers found throughout the whole region, so you may get roped into a pokémon battle. I wish you good luck!” Professor Oak finished.

The words come quick, but Izuku finds that they are just right because they are not too much yet not too little. They don't leave anything out, yet they give encouragement that feels skin deep; even if his mother's words ring in his ears, he can hear the clarity more in the professor's words. And as his eyes trace the warm smile on their faces that hold no concealed disappointment or cover up any lies or any mistruths — he wonders if it would be alright to never go back to Mufatsu. It feels like a selfish thought and to Izuku — he wonders: what about his mom? What about Kacchan? What about UA? 

And Izuku realizes; he doesn't feel anything for it, just bitterness and resentment to cover up the hole in his chest from broken dreams and the scars still scattered across his body like a painting.

So, Izuku finally looks up and smiles at them. It's a real smile that curls and pushes up his freckled cheeks, covered in mini constellations. Eyes crinkling and pearly white teeth showing as he gives a small wave and they wave back at him as his back turns, heartbeat pounding in his ears that drowns out the steps he takes on the tile towards the door.

_ Left foot. _

_ Right foot. _

He sees Aruba jump off his shoulder once the door is open and he's gazing out across the Kanto region with a bright smile and hands curled at his sides. The sunlight beaming down from the azure blue sky dotted with white fluffy clouds that resemble candy floss and the wind tugging at his clothes

“Eevee!” Aruba chirps. Izuku's gaze snaps to her as she begins to run off and down the stairs.

“Hey wait up!” Izuku calls after her as cheerful laughter fills the air. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> — We are trying to make the descriptions of places in the Pokemon Universe as accurate as we can. I mostly used the anime's description of Professor Oak's house.
> 
> — The Kantonese language is Italian. Team Rocket was originally based off of the Italian (mafia?) groups so, due to Kanto bring their origin, we made the language Italian! Please be mindful none of us are fluent in Italian.
> 
> — Quirks do exist in the regions, but they just have a higher quirkless population so they're a bit more tolerant.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite the unfamiliarity of the surroundings and the region, Izuku couldn't help but feel more at home than he had in a longtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello dear readers! I bring the third installment of Ad Astra. We thank you for all the kudos and comments you have given us — they mean a lot and we do actually love to receive them. 
> 
> Thank you for being patient with us <3

**Thursday August 2, 2210**

**Route 1, Kanto**

A quick flash of the camera clicking signaled a picture being taken. The noise caused a few heads to turn Izuku's way with a curious glint in their eyes, looking through the gaps in the tees or raised their heads up to stare at the quiet newcomer through the shrubbery bordering Route One.

Viridian eyes took in the sight of the long branches full of green leaves and blooming flowers stretching and concealing the azure sky, watching as the wind tugged at them just like it did his clothes. The trees cast shadows, allowing for the ground to be colder than the fields which Izuku came from. 

His bag pulled at his shoulders and gut from the buckled straps, making Izuku grit his teeth at the heavyweight. Gripping his phone to distract himself from the uncomfortable baggage to look around at the forest filled with pokémon, snapping a few more photos to add to his growing collection. He could see and hear the pokémon, but they looked awfully shy so Izuku didn't try to approach them since he didn't want to risk being attacked, despite knowing Aruba could handle herself — he was just rather scared despite his knowledge about the pokémon native to this region, so similar yet different from Japan. ( _ Or maybe he just didn't want to disappoint Aruba with his terrible battling skills.) _

Izuku sighed, glancing down at Aruba who kept close to him, her brown eyes inquisitive at the new sights to see — he didn't want to put Aruba in a situation that he couldn't control… or well, maybe he couldn't control a situation but that shouldn't hinder Aruba right? She was stronger than him and didn't need him — right?

He almost sighed again, but held it in, giving a small smile despite the questions replacing the painful gnawing and the small shaking in his hands from anxiety. His phone slipped into his pocket as he curled his fingers so the nails could puncture his palm, the pain a distraction from his thoughts.

“Eevee!” Izuku heard Aruba chirp — or rather — almost snarled, almost missing it from how he was distracting himself.

Izuku's gaze swiveled down to her as he watched her eyes brown narrow and stance took more of an offensive position. His heart began to race and his throat started to close up as he  _ knew  _ that stance.

One ready for battle. 

His eyes traveled to the tiny bird pokémon a few meters ahead. Black eyes latched onto Aruba like prey, brown wings flared out and talons spread out on the paved ground. They were awfully beautiful and the color of their plumage distracted Izuku for a few seconds as they called again, issuing a challenge at Aruba.

“Pidgey!” The Pidgey cried, taking off into the air with wings stroking downward. Keen eyes latched onto his, making him step back just once, burning passion in their eyes that sparked like Kacchan's explosions or burned like Hisashi's flames. 

Aruba's eyes caught his when he stepped back, and Izuku could almost imagine the expression she had as she leaped out in front of him like she would do when Kacchan's Cyndaquill was about to attack them in the schoolyard park. That heart burning passion in her eyes and self-sacrificial attitude she had like himself to protect others than themselves. 

Izuku felt too afraid to move, caught in memories of abuse and heartbreak. Another cry from Aruba had him realizing — he wasn't at school — he's in _Kanto._ He had nothing to fear when his friend was with him to battle an enemy that wasn't attacking for the sick satisfaction of beating others weaker than themselves; but to prove a declaration of strength. He wasn't in Japan where he had to cower beneath the king of fifth grade, he was in the wilderness with his trusted friend beside him, trying to grow and discover themselves and the world around them. 

So, Izuku let a determined smile pull across his own face as he caught Aruba's eye, his own passion igniting beneath his kind facade.

Stepping forward, he let the bag slip off his shoulders and fall to the ground. He opened the top of the beige and black bag, searching around until his hand encircled a small circular object. He pulled out one of the pokéballs he received from the professor and straightened, holding himself like he's seen Inko do when she refused to be pushed around. 

And it made a sense of pride and courage bloom into his chest as he swung out his arm yelling: “ARUBA! I choose you!” into the air for the first time. 

Izuku watched as Aruba sprung forward at his cry, chirping in excitement. The Pidgey begin its first attack: gust. Harsh winds blew at them, making Izuku hold his hat down and Aruba grapple at the ground, nearly rising into the air a few times, causing his heart to flutter in fear and the smile melt off of his face in worry. Trying his best to not panic, his mind raced through move options, seconds ticking by like a film movie.

“Aruba!” Izuku called out through the gust attack, deciding to push past his thoughts to say something to reassure his partner. He had to be strong Aruba! Even if Izuku knew he was puny and quite weak. “Flatten yourself towards the ground and push all your weight forward. It will help you from being blown backwards!” He paused, wondering what else to say as the gust let up and he didn't have to hold onto his hat.

“You're doing amazing! Now use Tackle and if you miss — try again! We can do this Aruba!" Izuku called out, doing his best to be strategic with his pokémon knowledge. Since Pidgey was a flying type it could easily get away and dodge Aruba's attacks, so it would be best to keep it down on the ground. 

Aruba landed a successful tackle at the low flying Pidgey, sending it careening towards the ground. Izuku let out a shout of pure excitement, but as he pumped his fist into the air and watched as the Pidgey stood back up with a furious caw and took back up into the air. 

Its wings began to slightly glow and Izuku' eyes widened as he opened his mouth to shout a warning at Aruba to dodge the incoming wing attack, but it was too late. Watching with wide eyes and a heart beating too fast in his ribcage that made his fingers curl and anxiety grip him like hands around his neck. Choking on his breath as the attack directly hit Aruba, sending her flying back towards him.

And he took steps forward at her flying figure, which let out a pained cry as she flew back towards him, dropping the pokéball on the ground. His stiff arms reached out as he caught her with heartbeat racing, wincing at the weight crashing into his chest that was already struggling to inflate air through the sprout of water in his eyes and anxiety clawing at him. But Izuku didn't care as he checked over Aruba, looking at the scratch marks and bruises with worried, frantic eyes. Breathing heavily as hands clenched and unclenched beside him because  _ he did this.  _ He could have prevented this by shouting a "detect," sooner or maybe planning ahead. Would Aruba hate him for this mistake? What if she left him? That was okay — she did deserve better.

“Aruba,” Izuku began, watching as she weekly opened her eyes, the fire still burning but weaker than before. Dulled by the pain? He was glad he had potions on him, but his bag was a ways away and the Pidgey still looked quite pissed off. “Can you continue battling?” 

“Vee,” Aruba chirped, catching his own eye and staring determinedly in the emerald hues. Jumping out of his grip and standing, despite the obvious pain she was in. Her eyes narrowing into slits as she let out a small growl, planting her four paws into the scuffed up terrain.

His heart clenched, but Izuku held firm despite how much he wanted to stop her from pushing herself — getting hurt more because he wasn't a good trainer and doesn't deserve a partner.. Izuku paused his thoughts, or was he rambling out loud? It didn't matter, they still had the battle to win.

Picking up the pokéball as he went to stand up, Izuku tried to look confident. Tried to stay strong despite how he was afraid and trembling like a leaf, how his breathing was harsh and labored. “Aruba," he called, trying to keep the waver out of his voice because pokémon could detect fear. Could detect his swirling emotions that were drowning him as he stands here on a bright, sunny day scared. “Be careful.” Izuku means it when he says the two words, despite the fact he can't hear it over his heartbeat beating in his ears. “Dart around the edges of the Pidgeys' sight. Try to get behind its back so you can tackle.” Izuku adds almost unconsciously. 

He really needs to work on his confidence. 

“Eevee.” Aruba chirped, following his orders as she darted around the makeshift arena, light and agile on her feet as the Pidgey kept its eyes on her. Despite its efforts, Izuku noticed the way it would lose track of her, rapidly spinning around to search for her in the air, becoming more frantic as wings strained to keep hovering in the air. Izuku felt sorry for the Pidgey and promised that even if they didn't catch it, he would heal it up — he did have a couple of healing potions on him that a worried Inko packed. 

“Now!” Izuku shouts, seeing the opening that they have been so desperately waiting for. 

Aruba tackled the Pidgey in the back, sending it down towards the ground in a puff of sand. The Pidgey looked absolutely miserable as Aruba pants beside it exhausted and tired.

Swallowing the bile in his throat at the fact of their states was  _ his fault, _ Izuku walked towards the fallen Pidgey on the ground, crouched down and gently pressed the expanded pokéball against their head. He watched as its body disappeared into the red and white ball in a flash of red, ball shaking once… twice… thrice. That had Izuku tilting it back and forth to inspect how a pokéball would work, despite it shaking and rattling in his hands. His eyes snapped towards the motion with interest and curiosity simmering beneath the shrunken black pupils, watching as it slowed to a halt before stopping altogether.

Izuku's eyes widened, quickly turning towards Aruba who looked very proud in her accomplishments with her chest puffed out in pride. “Did we…” Izuku trailed off in a small whisper, disbelief clouding his eyes soon being replaced by pure joy and excitement. “Did we just catch our first pokémon?” 

“Vee!” Aruba chirped back, making his eyes fill to the brim with water. 

Brushing away tears with the back of his palm, Izuku resisted breaking out into genuine sobs right here in pure happiness at the fact he was able to catch a pokémon — his first pokémon too! But one look at Aruba's state told him that he needed to heal her up, along with his newly caught Pidgey. 

So with a sense of urgency, Izuku released the Pidgey out of its pokéball, where it landed next to Aruba still looking pretty bad and weak, but able to stand. Izuku honestly couldn't wait to just — see what his new Pidgey could do, because he was super excited to see their potential! After all, they looked really strong and Professor Oak did ask for him to fill up the pokédex. 

Shrugging off his inquisitive thoughts, Izuku ook off towards his backpack still laying on the ground where he left it. Dust and gravel clung to the polyester material as he dragged it over to the two pokémon who were idly watching him. The Pidgey looked curious at the strange bag, head tilted and black eyes staring harshly at it to see what secrets it may have. 

They looked like they were chatting back and forth — something that made his heart bloom in happiness that the two were getting along since they are future teammates. Well — Izuku thought about it for a second as he fished out the first aid kit, in his crouched position with knees digging into the ground and a strain put on his toes— he hoped they were getting along. He couldn't speak pokémon after all, so maybe they weren't? But they hadn't attacked each other nor seemed mad in the presence of each other, so that was a start. Watching them communicate brought forth the question if the pokémon language could be understood across other species considering the caws Pidgey were making and the (barks? Dog noises? Cat noises?) that Eevee was making are very different. So maybe they could understand each other to a certain degree or maybe fluently? That would be really cool if they could. Izuku focused back in on healing his pokémon, his thoughts having begun to spiral off topic

“Alright,” Izuku spoke up, a small smile on his lips as he gestured to the heal bottle clutched in his hand as he pointed at it. 

“This may sting a little, but it will help you feel better, so please don't worry — ack!” Izuku winced at his phrasing of words, he sounded like a murderer or one of those robots trying to take over civilization stating: “Please do not resist.”

Carefully spraying the heal bottle on Pidgey's and Aruba's wounds, mumbling apologies when they let out small hisses of pain or when Pidgey pecked him. He withdrew back and packed the potion into his bag before turning to the duo. 

“Oh um — Pidgey, are you a male or female or genderless?” Izuku asked, a slight flush covering his cheeks from the heat. Even in the shade, he could feel the August humidity and the way there seemed to be heat waves visible on the ground if he stared long enough. “Lift up one wing if you are a make, lift both wings if you are a female, and peck me if you are genderless!” 

Izuku let a bright smile overcome his face when he realized his Pidgey was a female — it was good to get that out of the way in the first place. 

Carding a hand through sweaty, dark green curls, Izuku stood up and slipped on his bag. Wincing at the crushing weight back again before bringing the two straps together at the end and snapping them together around his waist. Shifting the straps around a bit before turning towards Pidgey and Aruba, “Alright guys, time to get going!” 

Pidgey looked at him strangely, before spreading her wings and flying into the air, where she landed on top of his floppy hat, eliciting a short laugh from Izuku as he caught Aruba when she jumped into his arms. 

Once both pokémon were stable, Izuku continued his journey down Route One. 

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

“Break time!” Izuku chirped, his voice tinged with exhaustion that showed in his body. The way he held itself with arms sagging, feet starting to slightly drag, and longer inhales and slow exhales that sounded like wheezes. 

Tired, viridian eyes drifted towards the river next to them as Izuku took off his backpack. Unbuckling the clasp over his stomach and letting the heavy bag slide off of his shoulders and onto the green grass below, where it landed with a thud. Instantly, once it was off, Izuku stretched. Extending his arms into the air and bending his back, the joints in his spine crackled like firecrackers as they released built up gas. The movement made Pidgey, still perched on top of his head, flutter down next to Aruba, who in turn was by the river lapping up water. 

Shifting his weight forward, Izuku bent down to touch his toes before straightening back up, gazing up at the branches covered in bright green leaves. Satisfied at the lack of cracks in his body when he shifted his place of gravity, Izuku walked over to his bag and unzipped it. Scavenging through the light items before pulling out the bento box his mom had packed, a small zip-lock bag of chips, his composition notebook and pencil that he placed down, his water bottle in the side pocket still cold to the touch and the pokémon food he had packed. Izuku pulled out the two small, collapsible bowls he had packed and poured a good chunk off food for the both of his friends before packing the container away once more.

“Aruba! Pidgey!” Izuku called, crouching down beside the tree as he watched them run over, holding up the two bowls of pokémon food, a smile lighting his face as he placed them down in front of them. He really wished he had berries to add to the plain food and promised to pick some up in Viridian City. “I have food! So eat up you two before we get moving,” Izuku finished. Dropping to the ground as he watched them begin to dig into the food, Pidgey didn't look exactly pleased and Izuku only stretched an arm out and gently scratched the top of her head feathers.

He was surprised when she didn't peck him, but instead melted into a soft gooey mess of coo's, leaning her head into the head scratches.

“This is new,” Izuku murmured mostly to himself, staring interestly before he withdrew his hand back, catching Pidgeys almost pleading look (that he nearly fell for) and dodging a peck at his hand. (Or was she trying to grab his finger?) 

“I'll give you more head scratches, but we also need to eat,” he gently reminded us, giving both of them a slight ruffle on the head before settling back down. Opening his bento box, he set it beside him on the grass to accommodate the space off his composition notebook on his lap. 

Flipping open to the first page, Izuku began to take notes on Pidgey while munching on an onigiri in his left hand and jotting down notes in his right hand. 

He glanced up at Pidgey every once in a while as he sketched out diagrams of her, recalling their battle and the moves she displayed — did she have other ones though? He would have to see in battle — or could the pokédex answer it for him? That reminded him of the weight currently in his breast pocket, setting heavier now the more he thought about it.

However, that almost felt like cheating; just looking up the answer even if he would have to update the pokédex anyway on the entry for Pidgey. He wondered if the pokédex worked in other regions or just specifically one region?

Grabbing the bright red device, Izuku powered it on; flipping it open as the light device's camera was soon pointed towards Pidgey Watching the screen change from black to a light blue. The faded white spinning in a circle before the pokémon suddenly appeared, along with information in the upper right box that listed type, weaknesses, gender, and gender ratio.

“ **_Pidgey: the tiny bird pokémon. Pidgey is known to have an extremely sharp sense of direction. It is capable of unerringly returning home to its nest, however far it may be removed from its familiar surroundings._ **

**_This Pidgey is a female with the ability Keen Eye that prevents the lowering of accuracy. Known moves of this Pidgey is: Tackle, gust, sand attack, and the egg moves air slash, and feint attack. ”_ **

A snap off a twig broke Izuku from his concentration on the device currently spitting facts off the pokémon in its electronic voice. Though, seeing Pidgey and Aruba raise their hackles towards a purple rat pokémon with a cream underbelly and muzzle, made Izuku snap the device shut and place it on top of his notebook to give the creature his undivided attention. The pokémon was standing there, red eyes darting between them and Izuku's bento box. 

The pokémon was thin, worryingly so, with a few ribs peaking out from purple fur that was dusty and matted. They didn't look so good — but maybe wild pokémon had it tougher than pokémon in a sanctuary or those who roamed Professor Oak's wild area?

Setting down his notebook, Izuku leaned forward, putting his left hand out to prevent the two from starting a fight. Picking out a good chunk of his onigiri, Izuku held it out to the pokémon, watching their eyes dart back and forth. 

“Take it, please." Izuku began slowly, making sure his voice was calm and not too soft or too high, eyeing the starving pokémon. 

“You just want some food, right? We have food, so we can just share with you if that is okay?”

Izuku said nothing after that, opting to wait as red eyes switched between his hand and the food. The travellers waited in silence, a minute passing before the wild Rattata finally took the food from his palm, clutching it in their two paws. The creature took small nibbles before swallowing it whole and looking back at him — eager for more. 

Smiling, Izuku held out the rest of his onigiri. The pokémon did the repeated motion from before as they grabbed it from his palm and gobbled it up. The small amount of food had the rat looking better than before.

Nodding in satisfaction, Izuku went back to taking notes that had Pidgey bouncing forward to look at them, shoving their body underneath his arm and Aruba draped herself on his lap, leaving the pokédex laying in the grass and the Rattata free to do what it wanted. He left the purple creature alone; it may not have wanted to be scanned. It would go against his morals to encroach on their privacy — even for the sake of knowledge or that dying itch to discover more. However, they were wild so it wouldn't be fair to expect them to stay even if he had given them food. 

Glancing past the river, Izuku noticed the way the shadows were getting longer — just like the beams of sunlight flowing through the leaves, which casted a more gloomy appearance as the day grew darker.

Izuku heard the Rattata come closer, it's tiny paws crunching the grass. He didn't want to share the tiny rat, so he focused on his notes instead of watching it like he desperately wanted to. 

He jumped when he felt the Rattata climb onto his legs that were stretched out in front of him. Izuku's eyebrows raised up comedically when he looked at the wild pokémon slowly starting to trust him the longer Izuku just simply kept glancing up occasionally from his notebook. 

He caught it's eye, and swiftly looked away. It tended up briefly, but stayed on his legs. Izuku was reeling at this. Did this mean not all wild pokémon were afraid of humans? Was it common for wild pokémon to stay away from humans, or did they usually approach them? What were their opinions on humans?

Letting out a deep sigh at the questions in the forefront of his mind, Izuku moved and grabbed another onigiri from the container before closing it. He really should have eaten more than just one, but he didn't feel that hungry to begin with. He didn't eat much anyway — mostly because nerves didn't allow him to stomach breakfast and his lunch was usually dumped on him or in the trash by his tormentors.

“Here's some more food — you need to eat if you want to grow stronger you know?” Izuku commented, ignoring the look Aruba sent him at his hypocrisy. Holding out the food, the Rattata took it but didn't scamper away to eat like it previously had. 

Izuku just decided to accept the strange occurrence of a wild pokémon balancing on his toothpick legs, eating an onigiri.

He did snap a picture of the creature; the same with Pidgey huddled underneath his arms and Aruba sleeping on his lap.

Despite the unfamiliarity of the surroundings and the region, Izuku couldn't help but feel more at home than he had in a longtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 
> 
> He gained his second companion!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *que Pokemon narrator voice* 
> 
> Viridian city is on the horizon! What experiences will it hold for our hero?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Calvera here! School has started for me and due to my workaholic tendencies we may struggle to post often now, for which — we have never done anyway — but, anyway, chile.

**Friday August 3, 2210**

**Route 1, Kanto**

Streams of sunlight splashed against the orange tent currently propped up underneath a tree and near the river, bleeding through the fabric. The sounds of rushing water and pokémon beginning to start their day as they woke up from their slumber soon filled the air, growing louder than the soft snores coming from Izuku and Aruba, who was curled in her trainer's arms. 

Izuku grumbled softly, wincing at the bright light currently splashed against his eyes as he wiggled in his sleeping bag, trying to escape the light while trying to avoid moving Aruba. 

Giving up on escaping the sun, Izuku let his viridian eyes flutter open, eyes focusing on the tent overhead, bright light still harsh against his sore eyes. He focused on the sound of Pidgeys beginning to start a morning call and the tiny scampering of feet against the forest floor. Shadows darkened the tent in contrast to the bright light; whether it be from the branches dipping in the wind or pokémon walking passed the tent, Izuku didn't know. Izuku felt as though he should have woken up earlier despite his mental clock telling him it was before 8 A.M.

Moving carefully, Izuku managed to slip out of the sleeping bag without awaking Aruba, stumbling over his half asleep legs as he scooted himself to his bag and pulled out his water bottle and a change of clothes. He quickly changed into fresh clothing, packing the dirty laundry away. The aching pains of the bag straps resting on his back and the long walk with it settling onto his lower back and legs that felt too sore to move, but Izuku knew they would disappear with time. That doesn't mean he doesnt enjoy it, considering how much his spine cracked when he tilted up towards the sky.

Grabbing his bottle and slipping his phone into his flannel pocket, he realized that he should get both his friends awake and moving. As he drank the cold water found within, he grabbed Pidgey's resting place. With a push of the button, Pidgey appeared in a flash of light looking better than she did yesterday. 

“Good morning, Pidgey,” Izuku said quietly, his voice still groggy with sleep as he pulled out his phone, noticing the lack of signal with a grimace. But he at least knew his subscription to apps-that-usually-required-WIFI would probably work without connection. 

He wondered if Pidgey was okay with music since different birds reacted differently to music, anxiety rising at the thought. Heart beating slightly faster and phone on the ground, he focused on Pidgey. 

Seeing her trailer's focus on her, Pidgey cawed quietly, making his free hand instinctively reach out to scratch underneath the plumage on her neck. Melting into the touch, her black eyes looked around the tent curiously before landing on the sleeping bag in the middle, Aruba still curled on the soft fabric in the open. 

“We're in a tent.” Izuku began to tell her, a small, easygoing smile on his face as he set his bottle back in his bag. “It's like a mini travel home that offers coverage from the weather. It's a bit hard to explain.” He admitted, more to himself than to her as he glanced back towards the still sleeping Aruba with a fond, yet exasperated look.

Izuku began filling up his friend's food bowls. As he headed outside, Izuku aimed a hesitant request over his shoulder; afraid of Pidgey's reaction to being told what to do. "I'm going to put your food outside while I get everything packed, so if you could wake up Aruba that would be great.” 

He shouldn't have been worried; Pidgey was all too happy to comply with that particular request, still determined to prove herself stronger despite her loss the previous day. Within seconds she was by the Eevee, pecking at Aruba's head. Aruba startled awake at the sudden onslaught of a firm beak, flailing back with a cry. 

Izuku whipped around just to see Aruba pounce at Pidgey, intending to get revenge on that rude morning awakening. Not wanting them to wreck the tent, he intervened before they could begin fighting. 

"Please stop! Your food is outside and if you really want you can battle later, but not in the tent!" Izuku shouted, causing both pairs of eyes to snap towards him. 

At the mention of food, both pokémon made their way outside and began eating.

Huffing at their antics, Izuku rolled up his sleeping bag and clipped it on the bottom of his bag. Once the bag was secured and all loose items were packed away, Izuku moved his bag outside, setting his hat on top so it wouldn't fall off while he worked. 

Izuku turned back towards his goal, maneuvering himself so he could watch his pokémon while taking down the orange pop-up tent. 

As his pokémon ate, Izuku dismantled and slid the tent back into its bag, strapping it to the side of his backpack. A degree of satisfaction passing through him at his work, mashing his hat down onto his hair to keep it from falling off, before taking a minute to relax and take another look at the foreign land he now found himself in.

The morning sun beating down through the branches onto the ground, the roaring of the river and cries of wild pokémon in the background. The breeze tugged at ruffled clothes and the grass kissed his feet as he walked over to his pokémon, its stalks slipping between toes and twigs digging into skin. 

He let out a small huff off warm air, trying to ignore the way sweat gathered along his forehead or the way his clothes, still drenched from yesterday's sweat, clung to his skin. It was uncomfortable, but Izuku figured he could live with it because it wouldn't bother him for too long once they started to get moving again.

Should he eat then? 

Izuku shook his head back and forth, reminding himself he could just snack on the way to the city (he knew he would just forget), even as his stomach was growled at him for not eating last night. 

Helping Rattata get just a little bit healthier was worth it, even if he now was one bento gone and only had one left.

Turning to where his pokémon were, Izuku walked over. “Hey guys, I hope you're ready for the trip to Viridian City,” Izuku spoke up, hoping he didn't startle them from his approach. His eyes glanced over to the two empty bowls in surprise, wondering just how they finished that fast when he could barely finish a full meal. He should buy some more pokéfood then — though it would be really cool to craft his own. Maybe he could buy a book online once he reached the city and had access to wifi? 

Bending down, Izuku grabs the two bowls and stacks them on top of each other with eyes still pinned on the two. “It's a long walk to Viridian City so I hope you're ready.” Izuku adds on as an afterthought, remembering that Pallet was around twenty miles away from Viridian and he had covered about five the day before.. 

Pidgey spread her wings and flew on top of his shoulder and Aruba simply clambered up his legs and plopped right into his arms along with the dishes he was holding, looking rather satisfied that she got to be carried. A sigh simply bubbled out of Izuku, not looking forward to the long walk with the extra pounds the two pokémon would add along with the heavy travel bag. But considering he had not covered so much distance in the first place yesterday, he blamed himself for this tedious journey ahead.

Despite the extra weight, Izuku couldn't say he enjoyed listening to the two pokémon talk by his ear, even if he couldn't understand them. 

  
  


“Alright, let's get going.”

  
  


The affirming chirp of Pidgey and Eevee was all he needed before placing the two bowls in the bag, and slipping it over his shoulders. He immediately began feeling the aching pains resurface and the heavy pressure of the bag on his spine return. 

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

  
  


Hours later, Izuku found himself mid-way through Route One, sweat dripping down his forehead and breathing coming out in heavy pants.

Izuku couldn't help but wonder if now would be appropriate to ask if Pidgey liked music. After all, they've been walking nonstop and were growing tired from the afternoon sun beating down on them. Hell, Pidgey had returned to its pokéball to take a small nap and Aruba had decided to walk beside him once she saw how tired he was getting He didn't want to wake the tiny bird, but the question has been bubbling in the back of his mind and feeling like lead in his throat, weighing his tongue down the longer he pondered the simple four-word question that didn't even take long to ask in the first place; he was just scared. 

Taking a deep breath, that rattled in his chest, Izuku reached his hand into his bulging pocket and lightly tapped the red and white ball there. Debating on just opening it before seeing Pidgey appear right out of thin air next to him, hovering with black eyes looking at him confusion. 

“I wanted to ask,” Izuku began, brushing some sweat off of his forehead with the rag in his hand before slipping it in the pocket around his waist. “Do you like music?”

“Pidgey?” Pidgey chirped, stopping her hovering to perch right on his shoulder where she was a few hours earlier. 

Izuku blinked, realizing that she probably didn't know what music was and nearly berated himself for forgetting that. So, he tried explaining it and bit his lap while doing so: “Music. It's like — how do I explain this — it's like instruments and vocals combining to create a piece that appears to the ears.”

Pidgey looked more confused than before, something he couldn't really blame her for when he could barely even string a coherent sentence together. 

Giving up on trying to explain, considering she didn't know half of what he was talking about (and he didn't either),Izuku pulled out his phone. His eyes softening at the All Might case it was in, one of the only pieces of hero merchandise he had decided to keep on him.

The device had Pidgey hopping down his arm to get a closer look at the peculiar device in his hands and Aruba, having seen the phone now clambering back up his back after jumping to peek over his shoulder. 

Her eyes were full of curiosity and wonder that she nearly pecked it, but Izuku had jerked the phone away to avoid her potentially breaking the screen, something he had just replaced and wasn't in the mood to already spend more money on something as expensive as a screen. His anxiety spiking at the move before beginning to settle back down, despite his heart still racing in his chest.

“Please don't peck my phone.” he said, more exasperated than anything to cover up his worries and the anxiety underlining his voice and arms still slightly raised to keep it out of her reach, despite the obvious signs of exhaustion as they kept jittering from strain. “You can look at it, but please don't peck it.” 

She gave a soft coo of affirmation and simply tilted her head as she watched him swipe open the screen. The background of him and his mom with bright smiles on their face, and ice cream in their hands at the park, covered by the rows of apps all along the screen. A nostalgic look quickly passing over his face, before it vanished and he tapped onto the music app. Quickly switching his settings to offline and pulling up his downloaded music tracks. 

It was difficult to pick a song out of the hundreds he had, considering how many he had downloaded and just laying around in that playlist to never be touched. He could just pick pop, but would Pidgey like that considering how many genres there were?

Muting a groan by gritting his teeth, the noise audible even through the whistling of the wind and the calls of pokémon. Biting his tongue, Izuku kept scrolling as they walked, occasionally glancing up to make sure he wouldn't walk into trees or off the path..

Eyebrows furrowed, nearly touching as creases formed on his head, he decided to press shuffle and randomly choose a song. Letting luck decide whatever would be the first thing he was going to listen to since getting on the airport back at Tokyo seemed fitting despite the thought of sending a quick, sharp pang to his heart before shaking it away despite the small tears gathering in his eyes. 

Damn him and his homesickness.

Giving in, Izuku pressed shuffle, not bothering to read the name of the song which started playing. Within seconds he knew what song was playing when he heard the opening lyrics, and began humming along as he turned up the volume. Noticing Pidgey's attention back on the device with wings fluttering as she hopped further down his arm to now be perched upon his hand. Aruba's fur now pressed into the skin on his neck, making him slightly uncomfortable but didn't say anything. 

“ _ Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of pure imagination.”  _

Humming along, Izuku lifted his gaze from the trodden path to look at Pidgey in his hand with soft trodden eyes, careful to not let the music influence his movements to badly, despite the small hop in his skip a

and the smile began to bloom across his face. Watching her movements to see if he had to turn it off — he didn't want to irritate her ears if that was possible. Izuku didn't know, it would be very cool though to know, but he didn't want to risk Pidgey's hearing to test it. That was just cruel and inhuman. Wasn't there a move called screech though? 

“ _ Take a look, and you'll see into your imagination.” _

“Do you like it? The song is Pure Imagination.” Izuku said softly, knocking himself out of the questions beginning to gather in the back of his mind. Bringing his arm closer to his chest where her eyes caught his, black, obsidian colored eyes gleaming and shining like polished stones underneath the sun. They were so open, almost like he could read them just with a glance — but Izuku knew he couldn't because pokémon weren't people, and he couldn't even see what their emotions were when no facial body language showed.

“ _ It'll begin, with a spin, traveling in the world of my creation. What we'll see will defy explanation.” _

Pidgey chirped after what seemed like a long moment, her eyes glancing up towards Aruba who Izuku was sure was starting to fall asleep now, towards the phone in his hand, and then back to him. She gave a slight nod with her head, almost like she was trying to mimic his own movements, that had Izuku wishing he could pull up his camera to record the moment, but now it was gone, but the warmth hadn't left. Still bubbling like magma in his chest. 

Letting out a small laugh that seemed to make the smile on Izuku's face more radiant, Izuku tilted his head up towards the azure sky. His smile had grown larger, pushing up his freckled cheeks and making his eyes slightly squint.

The warmth in his chest was still there, curling and flickering like a bright flame as he turned to Pidgey, stretching a finger out to caress her top feathers before pulling back to slip the phone in his backpack’s side pocket.“You don't have to imitate my gestures you know?” Izuku admitted, using his now free hand to resume combing his fingers through her feathers. “It is cute though.” He adds as an afterthought. 

And for a second there, Izuku almost wonders if she can understand him. 

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Friday August 3, 2210**

**Viridian City, Kanto**

“We’re finally here!” Izuku gasps as he spots the outskirts of the quaint city he had landed in. The sunlight harshly fell onto him as he rounded the bend, his legs threatening to buckle underneath him after the long walk from Pallet Town on Route One. Gasps leaving his lungs that heaved, and body trembling underneath all the weight he carried. The feeling of heat struck a small, burning presence in his mind.

Noticing that Viridian City was on the smaller side despite being home to the international airport, rather different when compared to Japan’s Tokyo and Musutafu, that had cities teaming with more people then he could imagine counting; this was more subdued, or suburban in a sense as he took his previous time to gaze around while walking. Looking to distract himself from trembling legs.

Buildings barely scraped the sky; the highest only reaching around two to three stories high, and the sidewalks weren’t teaming with people despite it being a Friday evening either. No traffic of people running to get to work or make it to the train. Simply just people walking around at a leisurely place with their families or their dates with pokémon alike even in the street. Where Izuku didn't see much cars, or really any at all being driven so a lot of jaywalking was starting to be done.

Venturing further into the city, eyes blinking away stray sweat that fell from his brow and the tiredness that seemed to be dragging his body down along with the bag on his back. The map pulled up on his phone with directions to the nearest pokémon center, set on checking in his two companions so they could rest — after all — Izuku could see the constant rests Pidgey did on his shoulder now, and Aruba's huddled form currently in his arms. And even though he was tired, feeling more likely to pass out in the street then get to their destination, Izuku would do anything for his friends.

Izuku took the time to glance up from his phone once he got a good distance into the city, and the shadows from the buildings were growing longer, hiding the sunlight from sore eyes that stung. 

A deep breathe tugging at his sore lungs as eyes watched the Sparrow's and Pidgey fly, there wings spreading to the fullest length where sunlight glitter off of the colorful shades of feathers and there caws echoing, giving the city an almost wistful yet mystical feeling, something Izuku wished he could experience back home. 

His eyes shifted, noticing the pokémon trailing at their partners feet or slinking around in the clean alleyways (and  _ wow  _ wasn't that a start). So far having spotted a Rattata and two other pokémon that he couldn't seem to catch on his pokédex — having been too late to pull it out before they were gone. Yet, even the mishap made a smile tug at his lips despite how tired he felt. 

Rubbing at his eyes despite how grimy his hands felt, Izuku spotted the distinct bright red roof of the pokécenter glittering off of the sun a few streets over. Something that made him sigh in relief — happy to have found it before the sun had set. 

Turning onto the necessary street, making a beeline towards the center with a pep in his step. Izuku felt a tug at his shorts (that almost had him falling) and a pull at his hat that had him stopping with confusion and trying not to focus on legs that we're starting to lightly drag. Eyes shifted towards the ground to see Aruba, something that made him raise an eyebrow, considering they were all tired and the pokécenter was right there. 

Seeing that Aruba had slipped out of his arms and was now tugging on his untied shoelaces. It was rather cute, even if he was confused as to  _ why  _ Aruba was now growling at him and tugging at his shoelaces. And, if he was correct, he had a feeling it was Pidgey tugging at his hat, who had stopped to rest on his shoulder.

“Aruba, what are you -” Izuku cut off his question as he realized where he was being led, despite him tripping multiple times on the way there. Ignoring the small glances and looks he was getting, that made his skin crawl and itch with the pressing fear building on the back of his neck, weighing him down more and making it harder to breathe. The way his mind was starting to wander, focusing more on how tired his body felt and the soreness of his body, or how he could almost taste the bile and blood building up in the back of his throat. 

Deciding to not pay attention to the looks, Izuku noticed that both of his friends were leading him to what appeared to be a cafe near the corner end of the street. Still out in the rapidly disappearing sunlight. 

It was a small building — a hole in the wall sort of place — with a sign declaring it as ‘La Stanza Verde Bar’, something that was written out on a chalkboard sign hanging down from above the polished, dark wood doors. Outdoor tables and chairs lined against the building and on the sidewalk in mismatched furniture that gave it a nice appeal even from the outside. It took a second for Izuku to translate, but he soon realized that the name translated to The Green Room Cafe. 

Pushing open the door, Izuku looked around, happy to finally be out of the public if the way his body began to relax was anything to note by. Noticing the chalkboard behind the counter full of coffee machines and cups — listing what they had and the cold glass box on top of the counter tops, showing off pastries and small snacks to pair with the food. But, the interior was what stuck with Izuku the most. Traditional with its brick and almost unfinished touches from it's walls and hanging lights. Plants lining the windows, making the smell of the cafe filled with coffee, fresh baked foods, and yet it was woody, smelling like fresh cut grass and herbs. Touched with just a hint of modernness from it's furniture and wide-open windows allowing for a lookout onto the street. The hardwood floors, almost looking dusty from its colors matching up with the dirtied brick that was the foundation of the counter tops. 

“Hello there!” The lady behind the counter said, making his viridian eyes snap up to her with wonder at the colorful mutations of her skin, itching for his notebook, despite how rude it may look. He noticed the milkiness in her eyes that seemed to stare through him and the disorder of her hair, seeing a few pens sticking out of it. 

Realizing she was still waiting for an answer, Izuku stumbled over his words, wracking his memory for the word "hello" in Kantonese, before eventually blurting it out in a mix of both Japanese and Kantonese, making the barista chuckle out a laugh.

A slight blush began to overlap his already flushed cheeks, trying to come up with an apology even though his mind wasn't working. Almost hoping she wouldn't make fun of him since that's what people usually laughed at him for.

“You must be a foreigner trainer,” she said, cutting through his thoughts that began to spiral again. Wiping away small tears gathering at her eyes from laughing. “It's been a bit since I've had one stop in the shop, considering travelers are usually only here to challenge the Viridian Gym.”

Blinking, Izuku nodded, too afraid to speak in case his brain to mouth filter decided to combine words together or simply forget. Though he wondered what the Viridian Gym was? He knew Professor Oak mentioned a first gym, but in his excitement he forgot to ask what exactly he meant.

“So, what is a kid like you doing here?” The barista asks, glancing down at the ground before back at him. (How can she see him? Is it a quirk? Maybe an echolocation or thermal quirk? But she said kid, so maybe her quirk lets her see to a certain degree such as the heights of different bodies.) “And do you want anything?” 

Feeling his shoelaces being tugged again, Izuku followed Aruba up to the counter, as he looked up at the board with curious eyes at the wide variety of options that both interested him and gave him anxiety in trying to pick one. None of them were familiar — like the cream soda and calzones. The pokémon food didn't spark any recognition either. Then again, he rarely went to any cafes back home considering how it was easy to get lost or how they didn't have much money to spend outside of necessities.

“A jour — journey, yeah.” Izuku stuttered out a reply, sheepishly rubbing the back off his head, trying to not linger on the grimy feeling of sweaty hair sticking to his hands. He was careful to not shift around much considering Pidgey was still perched on his shoulder, tired but awake enough to look around the place. 

The barista gave a noncommittal hum, but didn't say anything as she waited. 

“And — um — could I get a blackberry cream soda, spinach calzone, and two of the berry specials? Is — is that okay?” Izuku asked, already starting to pull out his wallet from his backpack pocket, beginning to notice vines moving objects from behind the counter — something that made Izuku slightly stand on the tip of his toes to try and see what pokémon may be there.

“The blackberry cream soda is good, a bit on the sweet side — so you may get a small sugar rush.”

Her body turned towards the tablet currently perched on a stand, tapping away at the screen with efficiency, that had Izuku swiping his card and inputting the pin number before he even knew he had until the confirmation screen had propped up.

Her milky eyes glanced towards him when he was done, seeming to soften before bending down and picking up a round pokémon that Izuku had never seen before.

“What is that?” The words had left his mouth before he could stop them, eyes wide and staring at the pokémon in her arms. It's round body, that was colored in green and had splatters of dark green like scales on their body, with two points — Izuku inferred — they were ears above dark red eyes. A plant bulb was situated on it's back where two vines arose from, slightly curled in and raised as their head tilted at him. “Bulb, Bulbasaur.”

His fingers twitched, practically begging himself to pull out that notebook and sketch diagrams of the pokémon in front of him, but that was impolite and maybe he would see one later on in his journey? After all, there was still so much more to explore in Kanto and he had yet to find out what "Pokémon Gyms" were. Maybe like a battle ring? He's heard stories about those being busted back home — but that was illegal so maybe a more legal version of it? Was that even a thing?

“This is Bulbasaur, one of the main starters in Kanto.” She said, snapping him out of his reminiscence. Setting the pokémon back down on the floor, where it promptly began to use its vines to grab things from the shelves lining the walls and the containers sitting around. It's small muttering falling on deaf ears as Izuku turned back towards the barista with a curious look.

Her brown eyes shifted back towards him as she soon began to join in with her Bulbasaur on preparing his order. “I'm Bella by the way.” She said, after a bit.

“Izuku.” 

A calm silence fell, the clattering and noises coming from behind the register being the only sound filling the silence of the cafe. Small sounds such as the fluttering of Pidgey's wings gliding down onto the light wood table in a black outline, and Aruba's small paws clicking against the ground as she clambered up the high-rise chair and onto the table. Looking rather proud of herself, despite how Izuku knew her paws were really dirty and he was tempted to tell her to get off.

Letting out a small sigh that sounded heavy to his sensitive ears, Izuku climbed up the high-rise chair, having left his bag by the base off the table. Only pausing to pull out his phone and charger to stick it into the plugs ingrained in the wood. A bit uncomfortable from the way there was no plastic back keeping him from just leaning back and not falling, Izuku turned his gaze out the window and away from the bright gleaming sunlight still alive. Casting long shadows throughout the place and making him perpetually blind as he pulled out his phone and held it out in front of him to block the sun. 

“That gym you mentioned,” Izuku began, looking over to where Bella was working, trying to quell his rapidly beating heart and anxiety spiking in asking a question. Digging his fingers into the ends of his shorts. “Can you explain what it is? I’ve heard the term before but I’m not sure what it is.” 

“Ah, I'm surprised you don't know about them." Bella admitted, more to herself than anything. She sounded confused, more surprised than anything but not downgrading for his lack of knowledge. “Gyms are league sponsored training facilities where you battle with the gym leader with your pokémon. They are really strong and get progressively stronger the more badges you get due to limiters — or whatever they use to adjust their level. The more badges you have the stronger you are expected to be in the eyes of gym leaders, so they in turn get harder to defeat along the way.” 

“Badges?” Izuku echoed, his hand running through the tangled fur of Aruba as she lay huddled up on the table. Pidgey has decided to nestle into the curl of her body.

”Something you obtain once you beat a gym. You must receive eight badges to participate in the Pokémon League.” Bella said, currently adding whip cream to the top of the drink, looking entirely enraptured in her work despite how she was still talking regularly. “The Pokémon League is a single elimination tournament between trainers who have gathered all eight badges. It starts off as three-vs-three fights in the early matches, and escalates to the final fights allowing all pokémon in the party to be used, so a six-vs-six. Whoever wins the League Tournament moves on to challenge the Elite Four, and then, finally, you can challenge the champion for their role if you make it past the Elite Four.” 

Izuku nodded, digesting the information considering how much it was. His attention turned towards his phone, fingers beginning to research what a pokémon Gym was in depth, considering he may have only gotten the rundown — a more simple explanation. But he wanted, no craved, the bigger picture, every detail and fact to know about the gyms so he could be prepared. 

Izuku paused at that thought. He had still been unsure about his purpose at travelling through Kanto; Japan allowing little access to the other regions' culture, laws or events. He felt like he was taking on this foreign land blind, out of his depth in everything and feeling like he was going to drown in the stress. Professor Oak and the pokédex helped some, but the monumental task of catching all one hundred and fifty seemed like a pipe dream, close to impossible to do as he was.

However, the five minute conversation with a random cafe worker had changed that. He could see himself traveling with his pokémon, his friends, to grow stronger together. 

Izuku quickly became enraptured in his research on the league. With the phone laying out on the table, pulled up on the official gym challenge website that had links to the individual gyms. Having finally caved in to the pull of his notebook and pen from his bag, the pad sat bunched up underneath his arms, wrists bent in an uncomfortable position to write as he read. Japanese characters soon filled the empty page he had flipped to, drawings and small doodles along the margins to accompany the notes and connect the dots as the notes dissolved into questions rather than facts. 

Lost in his head, Izuku only noticed Bella's approach when she appeared in the corner of his eyesight when he finally glanced up from his phone and notebook, causing him to lurch away in surprise, heart racing. The sudden movement caused him to almost fall off of the chair, causing his heart rate to spike even further and heavy breaths left his lungs, sometimes stuttering and hiccuping as he tried to regain his breathing from the brief panic attack.

“Sorry about that!” Bella apologized, rubbing the back of her head once her hands were free. “Your order was ready and you didn't answer, so I brought it to you.” 

She gestured to the tray now situated on the table. Two colorful ceramic bowls filled with pokéchow and fresh cut berries in different shapes, along with his own order of a calzone, still letting off steam and had a small dish of a sauce he did not know about. It was red, and looked like it had spices floating about from what he could see. The drink was composed of a beautiful assortment of colors, going from a dark scarlet to a white. The mix of colors in the middle created a starburst pink. Izuku almost didn't want to drink it due to how pretty it was. 

“It's Marinara sauce.” Bella pointed out, having seen him stare at the strange sauce. “Hope you enjoy it!”

“Thank you so much!” Izuku called, his face breaking out into a tired smile as she began walking away, not hearing her reply as he turned back to his food. Wincing at the burst of sunlight hitting his eyes until he pulled down his hat. 

Slipping his pen into the notebook, Izuku pushed it off to the side next to his phone where the glass glittered. Grabbing the warm calzone plate and his cold drink that was beginning to form small droplets of water from condensation on the side of the plastic cup, Izuku set them in front of him, before doing the same with Aruba and Pidgey's food where they instantly dove in and Izuku stifled his amusement at the sound of enjoyment they were making as they are and he sipped at the strong sugary drink melting underneath cold hands.

The drink was delicious. The sugary soda complimented the tartness of the blackberries at the bottom. The clinking of ice cubes against the glass and his own small nibbles of his food messed with the range of temperature his mouth was experiencing; from the cold drink to extremely hot food that had him wincing and not touching the calzone until later. 

But it was enjoyable, eating with his two friends and listening to a conversation that was going over his head in every way possible as they finished their food faster than he could ever do, dissolving into small light chatter that soon fell into sleep.

Somehow, Izuku didn't mind it and continued to listen in as he drank.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

“Hello there! Welcome to the pokémon center, how may I help you today?” The lady at the counter asked. Her fiery pink hair styled into two hoops by the side of her face, almost acting like side-bangs. The hair was squished by a medical hat and clothing that didn't look exactly the most comfortable with the weird poofy frill at the sleeves. It was different to what he's seen Inko wear; she wore doctor's scrubs rather than these colorful outfits.

He thinks her name is Nurse Joy — having remembered what Bella said about them, but with failing eyesight stinging from the bright lights of the rather empty first floor and his brain unable to be process anymore more than just a few words in the Kantonese lexicon, Izuku just nodded, giving a faint smile to appear more inviting. Despite the casual numbing of his hand from a plastic cup full of water Bella was kind enough to give him and his other hand occupied by a sleeping Eevee with the majority of her body hanging out of his arms. Or the way his legs were probably visibly trembling the longer he stood there awkwardly at his miserable height. Having to stare up at the Nurse and barely even reaching the height of the counter, to look at the intricate technology right in front of his eyes . 

”Ah — yes — um,” Izuku stuttered, looking anywhere but at her, despite how he should make eye contact with them to appear more polite than anything. “Can I rent out a room here to stay in? I heard that you could — but it's fine if I can't do that.” He quickly reiterated, trying to not sound impolite despite how confused she was looking. She was hearing more of his Japanese accent than the local language, and he could see the cogs in her head churning, noticing his lack of knowledge about poké centers. 

“Of course you can!” Nurse Joy responds like her namesake after what seems like the longest minute in Izuku's life. “How long would you like to stay?”

Right, he had to figure out how long he was staying for. Izuku had no clue how strong the Viridian city gym leader would be against a zero badge combatant nor what typing they would use. Maybe a week then? A week sounded good — good enough to explore the town and check out what they had here. Bella had also been a great help, but he still wanted to explore the surrounding geography himself.

“A week.” Izuku replied, after some thought. At his reply, Nurse Joy begin typing something onto the screen device in front of her. 

“Have you registered for the league yet?” She questioned after a second. The words flew over his head as he stared at her blankly, trying his best to formulate and string the words she had said correctly in his mind, even if it was like grasping sand. Sand was able to be held, but it slips past fingers quickly. 

Izuku squinted his eyes as if that would help him comprehend what she had said, with no luck.

Nurse Joy didn't press further, probably guessing he couldn't understand or was too tired to even try, only glancing up once in a while to still see him standing. 

Finishing typing, the steady silence being broken as she called out an: “Okay, I am finished.” causing Izuku to jolt slightly at the sudden noise, his mind and body having begun to fall asleep where he stood. 

“Your room is upstairs on the right. Room 013.” Nurse Joy said, snapping him out of his useless mind rants. His eyes trailing after her gesturing hand that pointed towards the escalator up against the side of the lobby, adjacent to the other machine traveling further underground to someplace. But there was tape around it and Izuku didn't want to find out what was actually there lying behind the tape. Somehow still working as he could see the slow yet gradual movements of the descending escalator — something that intrigued him, but did not make a move towards it — and instead turned back to the nurse, rubbing some sleep out of his eye with his thumb. 

Nurse Joy handed him the key card that was needed to open up his room, a kind smile blooming across her face, inching slowly like a blooming flower pointed towards him. The action made him voluntarily smile back towards her — trying his best to not make it appear as strained as it felt as he grabbed the key card, and began heading towards the escalator. 

“Thank you!” Izuku called, having realized he forgot to say it. Something that made his anxiety spike, twisting churning in his stomach as he looked back, seeing her catch his eyes and nod. It did nothing to quell the anxiety now bubbling like chemical mixtures, but it did soothe the fact she had heard him 

Turning his head away, a sigh slipped past his dry lips as he clambered up the escalator, having to pause at the landing before the rising steps to carefully place one foot after the other. The first floor disappearing from view and the second base of the Pokémon Center appearing the higher he rose.

The white colored walls were in view first, along with small scuff marks that looked like they were made from pokémon claws. The LED lights were still of a bother, more of an annoyance than anything as he got off the regulator, daring to glance back down to the ground floor that was blurry to his eyes. Walking down the wooden floors that contrasted sharply amongst the white — as his feet scuffed the dark brown wood that bordered on black. The condensation from his drink steadily dripped onto the floor below. Eyes swiveling around in their sockets, searching for the sign or those small black engravings that usually had the door number.

It took a bit — for what felt like hours to him — before Izuku found Room 013, using the keycard to swipe down in the chip reader. The sudden click of the door opening and the flash of the green light on the chip reader making a smile blossom across his face. Springing inside the room with tired eyes and a grateful smile for not malfunctioning at nine in the evening.

Looking around the room, Izuku saw that it was moderately sized. During the day, the window would expose a wide area to view the city below, though it was hidden by the dark of night, shrouding both room and city in darkness except for the few street lights located along the road below.

Wooden flooring followed from the hallway and underneath the white sheeted bed on top of a light wood support. Another light wood covered furniture adjacent to the bed, as Izuku set his drink down on the desk, noticing the chair slid underneath the gap in the middle.

Sliding his bag off of his shoulders and onto the floor below, Izuku relished in the lack of weight on his bones. Giving a tired sigh of relief and rolling his right shoulder back, careful to not disrupt Aruba.

Izuku set Aruba down on top of the white sheets, where she curled up, tucking her head underneath her tail. Pidgey's pokéball was placed on top of the table, where it rolled slightly before stopping along the desk. His phone stared back at him innocuously as he pulled out his charger and plugged it in, watching it light up in satisfaction at being charged and not being used. 

Subconsciously wondering if he should call his mom before he went to sleep — after all he didn't call her yesterday — he decided it could wait until the morning; sleep was calling to him, just like the uncomfortable bed that looked so inviting. 

Izuku didn't bother to strip or change into anything more comfortable, despite the fact pajamas would probably feel better than his own wet and sticky sweat clothes. 

Collapsing onto the bed, Izuku quickly faded into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who forgot that we didn't actually post this chapter! Me! Apologies on the delay, life has gotten hectic for the both of us! 
> 
> We love all kudos and comments, so feel free to leave any feedback! Stay safe and have a good day!
> 
> <3000
> 
> ~Spedicorn


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're not dead 
> 
> there u go
> 
> I don't know what to say lmao
> 
> Uhhhh but authors note
> 
> :) Have fun with this chapter because we sure did
> 
> cackles
> 
> (That's Calvera's note, taken straight from our discord DMs)
> 
> Edit 10/24/2020 -  
> ¶"Amazing conversational skills."¶ is Japanese  
> "Such style, much wow." is Kantonese

**CHAPTER 5**

_“I was quiet, but I was not blind.” — Jane Austen_

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Saturday, August 4, 2210**

**Viridian City, Kanto**

**8:00 am**

“Good morning Bella.” Izuku greeted tired yet enthusiastically, closing the doors of the cafe behind him with one hand while holding onto a colorful notebook splattered full of stickers with the other, a pencil stuck behind his ear. 

Izuku rubbed his eyes, bright spots dancing across his vision as his eyes tried to adjust to the shade. The humidity clung to him like a hug as the sunlight, bright and illuminating, lit up every crook and nanny. The cafe was no exception; the many plants located inside seemed to come alive in the rays.

“Oh!” Bella said, clearly surprised that he would come back, her head tilting to face him as she cleaned a ceramic mug with a sponge. “Good morning to you Izuku, what would you like to order this morning?” 

Izuku absentmindedly nodded, watching out of the corner of his eye as Aruba and Pidgey took off towards the seat they had yesterday, opting on getting a head start in occupying a seat despite there only being two people in the building. There were two other customers in the cafe, and one had what appeared to be a water type pokémon sitting in their lap and the trainer enjoyed their morning.

Izuku felt a spike of irritation towards the bright sunlight that shined onto the table Aruba and Pidgey chose — something that he usually didn't mind, but pencil marking tended to try and glint off of the paper making it harder to decipher. But Aruba and Pidgey seemed to like the sunlight if the way they settled down on the table was any indicator, so he'd sit there with no complaint. 

“What do you recommend?” Izuku asked after a moment, looking down at his clothes to pick off flint from his light blue jean overalls. Shifting his notebook and pencil in his hand, tucking them to his side like a lifeline — something he noted Bella's eyes glance towards but didn't comment on, just shrugged it off.

“I would suggest the Dalgona Matcha Latte and a biscotti if you are going for something light.” Bella commented, setting down the glass on the rack. The Bulbasaur he saw yesterday was walking around the cafe — its vines holding a rag to wipe down tables, something that really began to interest him more in how their vines worked. “A denese is good, but it's a pastry — the marina baked eggs would be a good healthy choice. There are many options to choose from depending on what you are looking for.” 

Nodding in understanding, Izuku glanced at the box on the counter holding fresh baked pastries and began reading over the shelves and the small signs that listed names and calorie intakes. They all looked aesthetically pleasing, the golden crust of the pastries almost seemed to shine, but the marina baked eggs sounded new, and rather delicious.

“The Dal — Dalgona Matcha Latte, two glasses of water, and one of the marina baked eggs sound good, along with the berry special pokéchow.” Izuku replied shifting his gaze away from the pastries, pulling out his wallet and handing over his card as he went. Glancing over towards Aruba, Izuku saw that she was watching him like an overprotective mother, something that made the ghost off a smile twist upon his lips. 

Bella grabbed his card, beginning to go over the same process from yesterday, her eyes fluttering over to her pokémon beginning to trudge back over to behind the counter. “Your total is 11.32€.”

“Thank you!” 

She handed back his card, which he slipped back into his wallet, and walked towards the table, rubbing away more sleep from his eyes. He always wondered why he was still so tired in the mornings for no apparent reasoning — it was rather strange. 

Clambering up the chair again, he set his notebook down on the table. Flipping it open, he looked down at the descriptive Japanese script that occupied the pages. Small sketches of Bulbasaur decorated the page, but not many notes were found. One of his hands found Aruba who scratched underneath her chin, causing her to melt into putty. Pidgey was curled up next to her, asleep once more and letting off soft coo's with each puff of breath. 

With a sigh, Izuku flipped to the next page, creasing it in the middle, and picked up his pencil to start writing — but he didn't have much to write in the first place and it soured his mood. Casting a glance to the strange water pokémon, he wished he could use his pokédex and scan it. However, that was rather impolite and he was too afraid to ask for permission to scan the strangers pokémon in the first place. 

Izuku’s attention was drawn towards the approaching Bulbasaur when it let out a friendly growl. Seeing Bulbasaur holding up his drink and the plate of the marina baked eggs, something that made him unconsciously wince due to Pidgey being _right there,_ Izuku slipped the mechanical pencil inside the pages of his notes and softly shut and slid the notebook off to the side. Taking the load from the seed pokémon, a grateful smile on his lips despite the bubbling frustration lurking in the back of his mind.

“Thank you.” Izuku directed towards the green creature, who gave a brief nod as the pokémon went back behind the counter, probably to grab the rest off his order.

Izuku noticed that his drink was really adorable in the sense that it was aesthetically pleasing. The green whipped matcha on top of milk filled with small ice cubes, a candy cane straw sticking out of the beverage. Taking a sip, Izuku practically melts at the fluffy and flavorful matcha top. The marina baked eggs were in a souffle dish full of different colors that smelled amazing to his senses, a spoon and bread sitting on the side of the white dish. 

Aruba had shifted at the smell of the food, causing Pidgey to topple over and wake up, eyes immediately zeroing on the piece of bread. Completely ignoring the bowl of sauce, she darted over intent on devouring the piece. Izuku yelped quietly at the sudden alertness and quickly yet gently held back Pidgey from eating his food. Questions sprang forth in his mind as he ran his finger down her feathered back, scratching lightly at the back of her neck after every pass.

Did her actions mean all Pidgeys liked bread or was it more interracial with bird-like pokémon? Or was it just his Pidgey? Maybe he should try and answer the question once he gets outside.

“Pidgey you have to wait.” Izuku murmured, trying his best to not disturb the peace of the small cafe. Noting the arrival of the Bulbasaur in the scuffle, he grabbed the bowl of water and pokéchow from the 'mon’s vines. At the sight of them, a burning question developed on the tip of his tongue questioning how long they could reach and how they exactly worked. 

“Thank you again Bulbasaur.” Izuku repeated his thanks towards the small grass type, before turning his attention back on his two friends. Giving a wry smile as he split one of the slices of bread with Pidgey, he watched as joy bloomed across her feathered face at his actions. She immediately began to devour the bread like she hasn't eaten in a week, something that made Izuku snort with laughter, trying to hold in his giggles as he dipped his bread into the souffle and began to chew. The creamy richness of the sauce added flavor to the tangy eggs, all combining with the fluffy soft bread to make a filling breakfast meal. 

He found it more interesting than his own breakfast at home — usually consisting of nothing because he'd throw it up due to anxiety or just a cup of tea to get through the day until dinner. Inko left for work early in the morning, so she wasn’t around to notice his lack of appetite and worry over him as a result. 

An excited chirp from Aruba drew him out of his musings, eyes watching as both she and Pidgey began digging into the pokéchow.

Taking a long sip from his drink, he began to twirl his straw around and listened to the ice cubes clash against the glass. Ears tuned into the friendly banter going on between Aruba and Pidgey — he really did wonder what they talked about. It always seemed that their conversations were entertaining if Pidgey's dramatic flare and coo's were anything to go by.

Distracted, he barely noticed Bella walk besides him until he turned his head back towards his food, seeing her appear in the corner of his eyes and nearly leaping out of his skin as a loud yelp left his lips. Eyes blown wide and chest slightly heaving at the scare, Izuku looked away and took a sip off his drink to help calm himself down.

“You're pretty easy to scare.” Bella piped up, not at all looking bothered by his mini panic even if Izuku could hear his own breaths punctuating the air and the jittering off his thighs against the chair. He opted to focus on the worried look Aruba selt him and felt Pidgey's cheek rubbing herself against the inside of his shaking palm. 

Bella’s milky white eyes covered by shades stared out the window before turning towards him, holding some sort of fond expression Izuku would see only on his mom’s face in Japan. “I'm just checking in to see if you remembered to sign up for the Pokémon League. You were tired yesterday so I don't think you did.”

At the reminder, Izuku choked on his drink. “R-ri-right.” Izuku stuttered, nervously running a hand through the back off his fluffy green hair, still slightly wet from his shower this morning. His fingers caught, causing him to tug a few times as he slightly pulled on the roots, before brushing his fingers freely in the curls. “Right — okay, I — I need to do that.”

She let out a small chuckle, hand raising from her side. Izuku didn't mean to flinch back from it, but he recoiled slightly and hunching his back up with eyes closed, waiting for a punch that never came. After a few seconds of being undisturbed, he cracked open his eye to see that she had lowered her arm back down. A feeling of relief rushed through Izuku, despite him knowing she couldn't hurt him — who knew what the laws concerning the treatment towards the quirkless were. 

He watched as a complicated expression formed on her face, which quickly disappeared underneath a smile when another customer walked through the door. Izuku noticed just how strained it was. Her eyes darted back towards him for a millisecond, before turning away like the whole incident had never happened. 

Izuku turned back to his two pokémon, a small, wounded smile on his lips as he scratched lightly underneath Aruba's chin and on top of Pidgey's head. The soft coo of Pidgey made him close his eyes that curved into crescents. “I'm okay, really, just an instinct.” And he hated lying. Hated lying to his family who saw through him as if the eyes darting to each other were anything to go by. He thinks Aruba will tell Pidgey about what happened in school, bringing up memories both of them wanted to erase from each other's minds. 

Letting his hands slip back onto the table, Izuku took another slice of the bread and dunked it into the sauce, doing his best to try and ignore his heart thundering in his chest or the bursting of flashbacks like fireworks in the back off his mind with each bite off his food — simply waiting for all of the memories to light up and pop, screaming in his ears like music that is too loud and everything was too close. When the touch and texture of clothes annoyed him till he was crying—. 

Izuku shoved it away. Shoved the sound of crackling explosions away. Shoved the memories and the tears ready to burst forth through his chest. Forcing his heartbeat to calm down and harsh breaths to even out that hitched sometimes or he forgot to breathe, throwing off his whole breathing cycle. 

He was fine anyhow, just had anxiety which was okay. His anxiety wasn't that much of a hindrance.

“After we're done eating, we have to sign up for the Pokémon League which means we are going back to the pokécenter.” Izuku said, downing the rest of his bread in a singular bite. “Then we can go and train!” 

The exciting chirps from the two weren't as enthusiastic as they were earlier when they trained the day before on Route One, but Izuku didn't mind. It was justified due to the given situation and how worried they were for him — something that still made his heart flutter and cheeks warm up in genuine happiness at being cared about.

Finishing his drink that had begun to start melting from the rising temperatures and the food that had started to cool to a lukewarm, Izuku was somewhat surprised to notice that he had finished the whole meal. Despite feeling like he was about to pop due to all the food, he felt proud.

Slipping his notebook underneath his arms, Pidgey settled on top of his shoulder. She was carrying his pencil which she decided to snag from between his pages with her beak. Grabbing the dirty dishes, he pushed his chair in with the bottom of his shoes and began carrying the dirty plates back to the front counter. Walking slowly yet attentively to avoid dropping them and having them shatter onto the wood ground, Izuku set them down where he did the night before. 

“Thank you, you didn’t need to bring those over, I could have grabbed them.” Bella said from behind, making him jump again at her sudden appearance, withdrawing his hands back as he looked down. Izuku noticed that the cafe held moderately more people now then it did when he walked in. “And here, I overheard you were going to train. You can have these leftover berries I have.” she continued, handing over a full paper bag — not looking much like leftovers at all. 

Almost tearing up at the small gesture, he brushed away the small gathering of tears at the corner of his eyes — not wanting to cause a scene. “Thank you a lot.” Izuku murmured, a wet smile met with her own smile that felt real, not at all fake like the one she wore earlier. 

“You're welcome.”

Giving a small wave, Izuku headed out the door and back into the direct sunlight that made the asphalt appear to be melting, the heat able to be seen if he strained his eyes. 

Izuku winced at just how bright it was, even with the shade provided by his sunflower hat, his viridian orbs not used to the natural lighting. The humidity clung to his exposed skin and made sweat build on the back of his neck, his scalp growing warmer by the seconds as he walked towards the pokécenter down the street.

He observed the townsfolk milling about as well, most dressed in summer clothing with t-shirts and shorts. The sound of chatter and cars driving by filled the streets, something that he now noticed lined the streets as well. It was different back home, there wasn’t nearly enough space to have parking on the side of the road in Musutafu. 

Eyes constantly darting around trying to take in everything, he didn’t notice the slinking figure disappearing into one of the side streets until Aruba pulled at his shoelaces, almost causing him to trip and jar Pidgey. Turning towards her, he raised an eye as she gestured with a paw towards one of the dark alleyways in between two nice, newly built buildings. Barely noticing what they were gesturing at until he was being led by both Aruba and Pidgey towards it, having to quickly jaywalk across the street to reach the alleyway. Even though he was awfully tentative to enter an alley; not having good experience with them back in Musutafu, he reminded himself this was a new place and stepped into the shaded side street. Immediately, he noticed the dumpster bin off to the side and the sharp smell of decomposing food.

But what caught his attention was the wounded figure by the dumpster, eyes staring wide at him fearfully as Aruba took a step forward and Pidgey landed, still carrying his pencil, scaring the figure further.

“Step back you two,” Izuku ordered, careful to keep his voice low and soft as he stood back waiting. He watched as Aruba took one glance at the wounded, limping pokémon and retreated back behind him, Pidgey taking a few more seconds longer before she too fluttered back. Giving a small smile, Izuku inched forward slowly, careful to leave his notebook right with Aruba as he carefully opened the bag of berries Bella gave him. He noted the wide variety of them, ranging from Oran berries to Pecha berries. All provided small heath replenishment or a status condition removal. 

Grabbing a Sitrus berry, Izuku stopped and crouched down. He was still watching and waiting for the pokémon to open up, however his movement seemed to cause them to close off even more.

“Hello there,” Izuku said softly,“I'm Izuku, and these are my two family members Aruba and Pidgey.” He pointed towards the two trying to peak around his crouched form yet making no move towards the two, probably understanding the situation. 

Izuku pondered what else to say. “We're just worried about you Rattata. You're hurt and we want to help you get it treated — there's a pokécenter down the road and they have this really cool nurse named Nurse Joy with this Chansey. It's really nice.” Izuku admitted, starting to slightly ramble as he opened his arm out closer, holding out the yellow colored berry. Despite helping the Rattata on Route One, he knew that every pokémon was different and there was no guarantee that this particular 'mon would act the same. Noticing the Rattata beginning to lower it's guard slightly, Izuku’s mood brightened, his eyes shifting into crescents and cheeks slightly flushing. 

“You're like — really cool too!” Izuku began to ramble, “Like — your still here even though I’m a random stranger, and I hope you do accept our help, but it's fine if you don't because I can just come back and treat you,” Izuku did his best to not wave his hands around. He has to do it for Rattata's sake — he doesn’t want to scare them off.

Noticing them eyeing the berry, Izuku let his eyes travel towards their midriff, noticing it’s rib bones stark against dirty purple and cream fur. “You can have it.” Izuku winced at how loud his voice got in his excitement, evident by how Rattata curled up on itself again. “'M sorry, that was extremely impolite of me. But you can have the berry, I have plenty more to share because a friend gave them to me. I think she would enjoy meeting you!” Izuku continued softly, conscious of his volume. 

It took a few minutes before Rattata began to inch closer towards his outstretched palm, eventually grabbing the Sitrus berry and scarfing it down. Izuku leaned back on his feet once they did so, a joyful smile on his face as he beckoned Pidgey and Aruba over. Pidgey fluttered over, dropping the pencil she had picked up once again, and Aruba grabbed his notebook within her maw as she trotted over. Izuku took the notebook from her grasp, rubbing a hand down her head in thanks before moving to grab the berry bag. 

“Eevee.” Aruba chirped, sounding happy that the Rattata had accepted the berry. Her loud voice carried out through the alleyway, breaking the tense atmosphere. Izuku wrinkled his nose, just now registering how the smell of rotting food had become overpowering due to the proximity of the dumpster. Trying to ignore to the best of his abilities how the putrid smell stung his nostrils and settled in his mouth, seeming to try and imitate the food currently rotting away. 

“Rattata!” Rattata answered, dragging his attention away from the smell. The Rattata had scoffed down the whole berry. Looking decent and more energized then they were before — though Sitrus berries did restore health, so that was a good sign! 

Izuku slowly stood up, feeling his ankles stiffen up and back crack from holding that position for so long, having strained his legs a tad too much. “Alright, Rattata — do you want to come with us to get you healed up? After that I'll make sure to take you back to this alley or wherever you truly want to go,” Izuku asked, holding out his hand. Despite how much he goes they didn't want to go back to this alley, full of souring food that wasn't safe for a growing Pokémon like them to even eat, but he couldn't make choices for them — that was just rude.

They looked contemplative, ruby red eyes glancing between the three of them. 

After a competitive silence, Rattata nodded, and tears burst forth in Izuku's eyes, making them wet with a few slipping down his cheek before he swiped them away with the back off his hand. Aruba cast an amused glance at him from the sudden spring forth of tears. 

Ready to sob happily at being trusted with an injured Pokémon, Izuku carefully maneuvered his notebook and the berry bag so that Rattata would be comfortable in his arms. Feeling the weight of Pidgey settling on his shoulders and Aruba clambering up hid back to rest on his opposite shoulder; a bit awkwardly.

“Alrighty — are you all comfortable?”

Being met with affirming chirps, Izuku set off to the pokécenter.

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Saturday August 4, 2210**

**Viridian City, Kanto**

**10:13 A.M**

Waiting at the pokécenter was tense as Izuku tapped his foot against the orange tile repetitively. Careful to not cause too much noise amongst the small, yet heavy chatter other people were having in the lobby. Izuku was zoning out, but heard bits and pieces as trainers milled around, minding their own business or declaring a battle with someone out in the open.

The lobby wasn't full — far from it — but it was packed decently enough that he had to keep his voice down when talking to Aruba and Pidgey — both who've settled into his lap. Gazing at his notebook currently open and flipped to the page about the Rattata he had encountered in the wild a few days ago — something he wanted to update and add moves and special abilities. Maybe if Rattata was up to it and joined the team he could? But that felt impolite to ask if they would fight for him just so he could study their moves and abilities.

Izuku does think that Aruba is trying to teach Pidgey to read Japanese — or at least some of it — from the way she's moving her paws and ears and Pidgey keeps staring with rapt attention. It's really amusing to see, even if he has a feeling Pidgey forgot what she had said already.

Glancing back up, Izuku let's his eyes linger on the pokémon he couldn't identify — even if he could — his pokédex was still in his room in his bag pack untouched for the day. Unable to tell him their moves and what the pokémon were — which reminded him that he needed to update the pokédex once he thought about it.

Add in his notes on Aruba and Pidgey, about what he's learned — even if it isn't much due to lack of experience. Though it would be nice if he could see them more in action for battling — as he has yet to have an official pokémon battle with either, only when practicing their moves out on the training field.

He can see how they are getting antsy, just waiting. Just hesitating to be pushed to their limits on the battlefield with Aruba's more defensive stances, pacing and going all out during training. Or Pidgey's repeated use of different moves, to get stronger. It's wonderful to see, but Izuku feels himself as a trainer weakening because he's too shy to ask for a battle. Maybe he should try? He did hear there was a gym here — so maybe he could go against it sometimes this week?

Being knocked out of his thoughts by hearing the small 'ding' that notified him of a pokémon was finally out, Izuku let his eyes transition to the large Chansey pushing the pokémon out on the hospital wheeler.

Seeing that it was Rattata, Izuku picked up both of his family in his arms — though Pidgey decided to perch on top of his shoulder and Aruba slid down and onto the floor — and slid the notebook and berry bag underneath his armpits. Walking over to where Nurse Joy and Chansey were, Izuku subconsciously curled a bit on himself as he tried not to draw stares or looks from the other people in the room. 

“Are they okay?” Izuku whispered yelled as soon as he reached them, eyes brimming with worry and punished tears. His arm reached out slowly to caress the top of their head, careful to not make their fur go array as they leaned into the touch. Something that made him gladly smile but somber-up, knowing they were touch-starved. 

“They are now, just some scratches — territory scrimmages possibly. But they are underweight, so they'll need to eat small amounts in short intervals before building more resistance to eat larger portions in longer intervals, before they can be released back out, ” Nurse Joy said, watching their interaction with intuitive eyes. “Soft foods are preferable, as well as healthy foods for the norm — sweets won't do them well so lay off on them.”

“Alright!”

Carefully picking up Rattata in his arms, Izuku set them at eye level, staring them in the eye and a genuine smile on his face. Eyes almost glimmering like polished emeralds under the artificial light off the pokécenter. “You're going to be okay! We've got to make you a healthier weight first before you can be released,” Izuku chirped up, his smile growing.

Nurse Joy's laugh took him out of his musings, making him turn to look at her face currently being hidden behind a hand. Laughter began to slow to a stop as she looked up back at him with a small smile and knowing brown eyes that started into his soul. Like they knew every answer to the world and had managed to throw off anything life has given them. It almost made him shiver as he felt microscopic underneath her look. 

”I think you two will be good friends.” 

Izuku hoped so.

“Oh!” Nurse Joy exclaimed, turning to him to look him directly in the eye, something that made him subconsciously shift his eyes to the ground. “You need to sign up for the Pokémon League.”

“Pokémon League?” Izuku echoed. “What is that?”

“The Pokémon League is a top level tournament of Trainers — like yourself — who compete in Pokémon battles towards beating higher level trainers the farther you go up before you battle the region's champion, ” she paused, taking a breath. “You need eight badges to compete in the tournament.”

Izuku glanced at Pidgey, then at Aruba, and back to Rattata with an inquisitive and curious look, pondering about joining. He should ask his family though! “What do you say we compete in the tournament guys?” 

Aruba chirped and Izuku took that as an affirmative — so one vote. Pidgey cawed, spreading their wings while also simultaneously hitting him in the face from doing that, making him wince and hope her feathers weren't damaged. Rattata didn't say anything, but that was okay! Choices take time.

“You don't have to fight if you don't want to, ” Izuku murmured to Rattata, watching their internal conflict before they eventually gave a shaky nod making Izuku smile. His eyes drinking in the corners and mouth forming dimples 

Looking back up at Nurse Joy he nodded, “Um — so what do I need to do — to sign in?” 

“Ah — just hand over your Trainer ID please and I can get you signed up!” 

Izuku blinked, he thought it was a harder process then that — but apparently not as he handed over his Trainer ID. Watching as Nurse Joy placed it on top of the device on the counter, before removing it and typing away at things that he couldn't see.

It was very nerve-racking to not know what was going on as he waited. 

Finally, Nurse Joy handed back his Trainer ID. Slipping it back into his overall's outfit, and waiting to see if he had been accepted into joining the league.

“You're all set and ready, Midoriya! Make sure to finish the Pokémon Gyms by next September to qualify for the League Tournament— you do have a head start with a whole year at your disposal.”

Izuku nodded to show his understanding, surprised at the fact that he had a whole year at his disposal. That was quite a long time, but was a good thing considering how much he wanted to explore the region — he did notice the large encompassing forest by the outskirts of the city.

“Thank you!” Izuku replied with a smile, grateful for all the help. 

“You're welcome.” 

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Saturday August 4, 2210**

**Viridian City, Kanto**

**1:46 PM**

  
  


Izuku toyed with his phone's charger cord as he sat at the desk, leaning against the chair and occasionally pushing it up off of its stilts, hand holding up his phone to his ear, careful to not wake up the two pokémon currently asleep on his bed curled up next to each other after today's minor training session. They opted not to sleep in their pokéball's this time around — and even then the euphoria of having captured another friend — or soon to be family member — was exciting for him that he didn't even mind if he was going to spend time working then sleeping (despite how tired he was). Just so they could rest for a few hours before they would try and challenge the Viridian Gym after some and he wouldn't wake them up. Something that settled into his bones and made him want to cry in joy. But he already did that today. 

Aruba sat on the desk, still awake as she was staring at him with sleep trodden brown eyes. Giving a small yawn as she lays her head down onto her paws and watches his movements. Having already been used to his late night extravagances, she barely questioned why he was staying up late filing and updating notes and the pokédex entries. 

Glancing at his notebook, currently covered in the golden light off the sunlight streaming from out the window — that was propped open in front of him, with pages being held down by copious amounts of material on them. Highlighters and pens scattered on the wood, as diagrams of Pidgey were being drawn in into the notes after today's training session. The pokédex snapped open and on Pidgey's tab; a halfway sentence typed in.

“Pick up, pick up,” Izuku mumbled under his breath. Checking the phone time as he held it out in front of him, the brightness still high and being blasted into his eyes as a stark 11:42 A.M was in the top right corner off the screen. 

Letting a sigh slip past his teeth, he considered giving up as the phone still kept ringing. An annoying taunt to his ears, as he let the phone clatter to the desk, running a hand through recently dried hair — even though he could feel the water still leftover, rubbing uncomfortably against his hand. 

Hearing the ringer pick up, Izuku nearly shot up out of his chair in surprise at finally being answered. Fumbling with his phone as he set it up against his ear, a bubbly smile curling its way across his face and a pencil slipping into his hands as he twirled it around; careful to not send any materials rolling.

¶“Hello? Izuku are you there?”¶ Mom asked on the other line, her voice scratchy over the receiver and the crackling of bad reception making Izuku squirm and pull the phone away from his ears. Not at all enjoying the bad, loud reception he was getting. But it was worth it — after all, mom did say out of country calls weren't the best in Musutafu. 

¶“Hi Mom.”¶ Izuku answered softly, letting the pencil he was spinning come to a rest before it flung out of his hand. His eyes shifted to Aruba who raised her head from her paws, looking at his phone before back at him with a blink. A small “Ee,” escaping her maw before she turned away.

¶“Oh! Is that Aruba in the background?”¶ Mom asked, the distant sound of traffic echoing in the background. That made Izuku's heart sink into his stomach for calling her just when she got out of work. 

¶“Yeah.”¶ Izuku swallowed, ignoring the bile rising, feeling guilty.

¶“Tell Aruba I said hi and that she better be taking care of you! I know how bad your habits can get.”¶ Mom teased, causing a small snort to escape his tense form. Aruba looked up curiously at the sound of her name, ears pointed towards the device. She probably heard what mom said.

¶“I'm sorry for not calling earlier. You must have been worried. And don't worry — Aruba heard.”¶

¶“Izuku, it's fine,”¶ Inko said gently. Izuku could hear the gentle mothering tone clearly, despite the sounds of traffic and a bad receiver. Though she sounded a bit off; tired possibly? Must have been a long day at work. ¶“You must be busy after all; capturing Pokémon and doing… whatever they do? I think you can battle trainers in an official battle — have you had one yet?”¶

Izuku almost shook his head, before realizing she couldn't hear nor see the action. ~“No, I haven't, but I did finally join the Pokémon League! It's like a battle tournament and you battle the region's champion at the end for their spot.”~ Izuku said, sounding absolutely starstruck at meeting a champion. ¶“But I did catch a Pidgey and a Rattata — they're really cool and amazing! Like — _mozzafiato!_ ”¶

“Mo-a-di-to?” Mom sounded out over the phone, butchering the pronunciation. Not that Izuku could blame her — Italian words sounded a lot different and had different pronunciation rules then Japanese. Japanese was very easy - at least he thought so - but had many variations and characters in Kanji. 

“ _Mozzafiato_.” Izuku corrected, ¶“You have to elongate the f and jump pitches at 'za' and 'to'.”¶

¶“This is confusing.”¶ Inko huffed in amusement. Izuku agreed. It took a while to understand the pronunciation code and how some words are stressed — something that didn't happen in Japanese script. ¶“But — anyhow — mind telling me about Pidgey and Rattata? And congrats on joining the league! I'm so proud of you!”¶

Izuku's ears blushed red at the praise. ¶“Okay so — Pidgey is a flying-normal type, which isn't that surprising. I think they have one or two evolutions in their line since I noticed the new upcoming hero: Karakaze has a Pidgeot and looks like an evolution of Pidgey.”¶ Izuku explained, careful to not wave his hands all over the place in case he threw his phone. ¶“And Rattata — I think I've seen them before in the alleys back home — resembles a rat but they have purple and cream fur and red eyes. They're actually really cute.”¶

¶“Do you have pictures? And you are right about the new upcoming hero Kamikaze having a Pidgeot, though I haven't been keeping up with the hero forums as of late.”¶ Mom admitted. ¶“Oh! If you do have pictures — just send them after the call.”¶

¶“Ok! I'll do that after the call.”¶ Izuku settled his pencil on the desk, running a hand through Aruba's fur, ¶“How are you by the way?”¶ 

¶“I'm good! Though Izuku — I may need to cut this call short.”¶ Inko admitted tiredly, voice starting to slow down in the pronunciation of characters.

Izuku grips his phone just a bit harder at the words, biting the bottom off his lip to stop from crying, despite how puddles of water are forming in his eyes. His stomach twisted, Butterfree's trying to escape from his mouth and flutter away. He didn't want her to leave because it was so _lonely_ without human company. ¶“The connection is getting worse, and I haven't had a decent wink of sleep as of late due to how busy work has been.”¶

¶“Please don't go.”¶ Izuku murmured softly for the receiver to pick up. Wanting to yell, shout, but it didn't leave his mouth in a loud voice. It was soft and subdued, like a softly flowing river steadily overflowing as he listened to her talk. Listening along to her explaining what she has been doing at work — or hanging out with Mitsuki in her free time — which was rarely any. 

¶“I worry for you,”¶ Inko admits after a few seconds of silence. There's a smile in her voice despite her evident exhaustion that makes his face involuntarily twitch to mirror it.

( _But you're not at home for her to see it.)_

¶“I hope you're staying safe and taking care of yourself — please.”¶

¶“I am.”¶ Izuku promises, but he knows it isn't really the truth. 

Aruba knows. He can see her staring at him through the corner of his eyes, still berating him for having not eaten at all today. He just didn't feel hungry — still anxious about the new region he guessed.

¶“That's good! That's really good—”¶ her small chuckles echoing over the line, making his heart pang with the realization he missed the noise. She sounds happier; that's good. ¶“Stay well for me please — I have to go, but thank you for calling! It really was nice to hear your voice.”¶

¶“It was nice to hear yours too.”¶ he echoed.

¶“I love you so much!! Take care Izu!”¶

¶“I love you too Mom!”¶ 

The connection shuts with a faint click and Izuku’s hand lowers from it’s place by his ear, leaning back in his chair and starting up at the ceiling. Eyes blinking away tears that he brushed away with his hands. The all so familiar weight of loneliness crashing back onto him that it almost makes him choke, despite it being something that has started to become familiar.

It is strange that he feels lonely despite having his family here — maybe it's because he misses mom or just feels homesick? Not being at home in a familiar apartment with the smell of spices and food cooking as soon as he comes home aching, smiles and hugs greeting him at the door, asking about his day and if he learned anything new in class. It was familiar and it felt like home, but now he's out on his own to start anew in a new region so different than his own yet so beautiful. 

It's strange and new — and it isn't familiar to him. 

Maybe it will be over time.

For now though — he'll just enjoy the company off his makeshift family.

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Sunday August 5, 2210**

**Viridian City, Kanto**

**10:12 AM**

  
  


Izuku was in high spirits the next morning, excited to take on the gym the following day despite how much the rest of his mind was screaming at him in pure anxiousness and nervousness. The Butterfrees in his stomach didn't help — making him feel queasy and unable to stomach the breakfast he had; causing Aruba to smother him and Pidgey trying to cheer him up by snapping his pencil in a show of strength. 

He let out a nervous laugh at their antics, mood lightening despite the loss of another pencil.

Straightening his flannel shirt and grabbing his notebook, Izuku and his team set off from their room; their destination the Viridian Gym.

Though, it would have been nice if he had asked for directions from Nurse Joy — but anxiety did wonders to his talking skills. Instead, they were stranded somewhere in the confusing labyrinth of a city that really wasn't that big enough to begin with, however trying to move their way through the crowds made the venture harder than it had any right being. Pidgey had taken to the skies to show them the way; definitely helpful, but meant Izuku’s line of sight was constantly looking upwards, leaving him to navigate the crowds through the corner of his eyes. Aruba wasn't that big to guide him; he would trip over her and Rattata if they tried, so they were in their pokéballs at the moment and Izuku had no wish to bother them.

The weather was pleasant for the most part. The sun wasn't harsh which was a plus; however the way the humidity clung to his skin and lingered in the air, making it harder to breathe, was irritating. Even though he was wearing just a t-shirt and trousers — that reminded him, he needed to do a second load of laundry — it still managed to make him feel uncomfortable. At least his floppy hat offered some comfort and shade.

“—kid,” someone spoke up, sounding amused. It made Izuku slow down into a sudden halt, head tilting back down only to realize he was nearly about to bump into a man. Leaping out the way once he fully registered what he was about to do, an "Eep!” escaping past his lips and his notebook clattering to the ground.

¶“I am —,”¶ Izuku stammered, waving his hands around frantically, eyes darting away onto the concrete street, too embarrassed to face the figure he nearly barreled into, not noticing he had slipped back into Japanese, ¶“—I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention at all — are, are you okay? Did I run into you? I'm really really sorry — but, but I already said that so I hope you accept the apology!”¶ With that, Izuku frantically bent his upper half of his body into a 90° bow.

¶“Kid, it's okay,”¶ the man said, chuckling at the display. Izuku noticed something was off. The words sounded familiar — more natural to his ears than the strange grammar patterns and set up of Kantonese. ¶“I accept your apology.”¶

It hit Izuku as he sprung back up from the bow, staring at his fumbling hands that rubbed at his freckled skin on his arms, eyes still locked onto the concrete. He didn’t notice the man had picked up his notebook and was looking through it. ¶“You can speak Japanese?”¶ Izuku blurted out before covering his mouth with his hands and looking away. ¶“Sorry — that was really insensitive.”¶

The man shook his head, ¶“Yes I do speak Japanese — it's been awhile since I've heard it however. By the way—”¶ a familiar notebook entered his vision, ¶“—Did you write these notes? They're extremely detailed. Pardon the intrusion but I read some of your notes on Pidgey and it was absolutely fascinating!”¶

Izuku instantly tensed up, on edge as he grabbed the notebook back, a wobbly smile on his lips as he turned away even more. ¶“Ah, I would prefer if, if you didn't read — r-read them, Sir.”¶ Holding it closer to his chest.

¶“Ah, well I am deeply sorry, Midoriya. Have a good day though!”¶

¶“You too?”¶ Izuku’s reply comes out as a question - not used to receiving apologies - seeing the man's polished shoes — designer possibly? — walk past him.

By the time he finally looked up to continue walking to Viridian Gym, the man was gone. Izuku continued on, Pidgey having settled on his shoulder. While he absentmindedly bit down on the pencil in his mouth despite how badly it tasted, Izuku paused.

How did he know his name?

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

Gary stuffed his hands into his pockets, rolling his shoulders back with a bored look on his face as he walked out of the Viridian Gym. Frustration boiled through his blood at the thought of his previous match against the gym leader. It should have been an exciting match but the leader was distracted, seeming to be more focused on the job they got called out on then their battle, leaving it to be half-assed — something that had him clenching his hands in frustration. 

Though, they did have to leave afterward so maybe that's why they were distracted.

It left him furious, the simmering rage burning in his gut and prickling across his skin, but he couldn't let that control him. 

He was on the path to become the best trainer in the world — this shouldn't affect him because he had won square and fair. 

_(No you didn't)_

Shaking his head to dispel the stray thought, Gary let his feet take him to the entrance of the gym, humming a small tune underneath his breath before he abruptly stopped, seeing a newcomer in the gym lobby. 

“Oi!” Gary called out to the sunflower hat boy cradling an Eevee and a Pidgey perched on their shoulder. It was a strange sight and he wondered if they were one of Gramps' younger lab assistants. He discarded the thought almost immediately however; they didn't look native to Kanto, let alone old enough to be under Gramps' lab.

He hid a snort behind his palm from when the boy jumped in the air at the sound of his voice and spun around to face him, giving him a good look at their face.

Freckles dusted their cheeks as wide eyes a viridian green stared right at him. The boy was scared if the way he broke eye contact after a few seconds and trembled slightly underneath his gaze was anything to go by. Ah, definitely a foreigner but possibly not from Johto. 

“Are you here for a Pokémon gym battle?” Gary asked, softening his voice at the reaction he caused as to not scare them further, considering the foreigner looked scared as hell.

Oh sh— did they even understand Kantonese?

“Y-y — yes?”

Oh thank Arceus they did.

“The gym’s closed — gym leader had to go out to an emergency, something about pest control.”

The trainer looked surprised, simply blinking at him before nodding. Their face didn't change, just melting into grim acceptance that they were late, which was strange — weren't they his age? Didn't they feel mad about it? Why were they so accepting about it?

It rather pissed him off slightly.

“But—” now the boy had flinched, curling up on himself, even more, the smallest word. Jee — what was wrong with this kid?! “—I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!”

The kid choked, almost looking like a Magikarp out of water that it made him stifle another snort at the gobsmacked look on their face. “R-really...?”

He nodded, giving a smug smirk, and received an almost blinding one back. 

“Yep! Two vs. two Pokémon battle. But after my Pokémon gets healed — they haven't been healed up after my win.”

“Okay! That's perfectly fine with me,” the kid chirped. Still smiling so radiantly that Gary almost had to take a step back just to escape the sun-personified smile the kid was directing at him. 

Probably at the prospect of getting to battle someone as cool as him.

“What is your name, squirt?”

“ _I'm not a squirt?”_ They mumbled, seemingly confused by the phrase. He only called him that since they were short though — like not by much but it made him feel on top of the world. “Oh! My name is Izuku Midoriya! Nice to meet you…?”

“Gary Oak. Grandson of Professor Oak.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karakaze is an OC hero we created just for that conversation. They've got a air quirk and use flying type pokemon. Karakaze, according to wikipedia, is a strong cold mountain wind from Gunma Prefecture in Japan.
> 
> ~Spedicorn here! So sorry about the wait... good news is chapter six is almost complete! Our problem is that we write and come up with so many ideas that'll come later that we forget about the current chapters.
> 
> Anyways, stay safe, feel free to ask any questions! <3000 ~


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We could be the greatest team the world has ever seen.”
> 
> ∆Unovian∆  
> ¶Japanese¶  
> "Kantonese"
> 
> ~BATTLE SCENES ARE ACTUALLY THE WORST THING TO WRITE. WE'VE SPENT LIKE 2 MONTHS ON THE SECOND BATTLE SCENE ALONE. WE'RE SORRY~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> — Now you may have noticed Izuku has panic attacks commonly or worries a lot, this is because he is 10 years old and does not have that much control of his emotions. He will be very nervous and have panic attacks because he simply struggles with handling this. Older Izuku in cannon probably has a better control of his emotions then he did when he was 10, so don't say we are ruining his cannon character or that he is "too" anxious and "too much" of a crybaby. No, he's a child and he is very sensitive so he will struggle
> 
> — If you don't know who Gary is well here's a rundown: Gary is Ash's rival in the Pokémon anime for Kanto, Orange Islands, and Johto. He is kinda a bitch at first but he gets lovable as the series goes on. He is Professor Oak's grandson. We had to do a lot more worldbuilding for him, but you don't find out that backstory until later!
> 
> — All entries from the pokédex are from the Kanto games (Gen 1 and 3 to be more specific).
> 
> -Calvera

**Sunday August 5, 2210**

**Viridian City, Kanto**

**11:30 AM**

  
  


Izuku didn't know what to think about Gary Oak. 

He walked beside him towards the battlefield next to the Pokémon Center, trying to do his best to keep up with the boy’s longer strides. Curse people having longer legs or just generally being taller; why couldn't he have some of their height? His efforts either made him trip over both feet or skid his shoes into the sidewalk, making the world tilt before he reoriented himself again. 

Gary was rather amused, having noticed, but didn't slow down. 

Gary Oak was an enigma. The way he moved, words dripping of cockiness and arrogance so much so that he could have been shoved into a pool and still not feel as though it could amount to the boy's way of wording. It wasn't bothersome, after all, Bakugo was the same way, because at least now he could pick up on the fact there was a sense of nervousness underneath those words, that sense of so  _ much  _ miscommunication from someone important to them, like he didn't understand their situation as much as Izuku did him. 

He thinks that's fair — after all kids his age don't analyze people this heavily, until he could truly understand them just be their way of talking or body language alone. Kids these days don't know what colors say about people, or notice how the body moves at them meaning where they will strike you or where they will hurt you next. They don't discern because people look for what they want to see, and ignore everything else. The rule of thumb he supposes. 

They don't know that; he does.

Lack of understanding between peers got him hated quickly for being too smart, too invasive and heroic for his own good. Hated so easily anyway for his lack of quirk — it was almost gullible, but it just almost  _ made sense  _ to him. 

( _ He doesn't know much about being a kid anyway.)  _

“Alright Izuku,” Gary starts, snapping him out of his thoughts. Another thing he notes is that they don't call each other by last names here. It's a very strange adaptation to get used to — but Izuku hopes he will over time, considering the other regions may be like this as well. They don't add honorifics — which is a bit strange.

There were many cultural differences that he was struggling to get used to. 

Gary's thumb jabs into their purple long sleeve shirt with a cocky smile and eyes burning with anticipation. Like a Persian ready to capture him in their claws. 

“I challenge you to two vs two pokémon battles. We go until our pokémon faints.”

Izuku nods, more to himself than anything at that logic. It makes sense — but did that mean pokémon could metaphorically go unconscious from battling too much? He rarely saw heroes pokémon go unconscious when they were battling on TV with villains — they usually just went into their pokéballs instantly if they looked to scratch up to continue fighting. That often happened in battles, but then again, most of it was publicity to seeing their pokémon as weak from going unconscious must be why then? But what if they weren't near the pokémon? What would happen then if they tried to collect them?

“Okay kid —” Gary interrupts his train of thought, looking exasperated and annoyed at him getting dazed, “—it’s yes or no question.”

“Oh!” Izuku exclaims wondering if he was pushing his buttons with Gary, if the twitch of their brow was anything. Why did he call him a kid though? “I accept!”

He nodded, Izuku hoped he wasn't too annoying. “Alright! I choose you Nidoran!” Gary yelled, throwing his pokéball out into the open and barren field. The red and white capsule opened and a pokémon encompassed in a fading red light appearing suddenly out on the ground. Their outline is heavily contoured by the red. 

Izuku's eyes widened in shock at the new pokémon, so much so he dropped his notebook on the ground and gaped like a magikarp at it. He snapped out of his shock seconds later, fumbling for his pokédex to scan the new creature in front of him. 

Gary scoffed, boating proudly, “Surprised at my awesome Pokémon that will soon wreck you?” 

Not finding much of a retort to rebut that, Izuku pulled out his Pokédex, hoping he wasn't being seen as rude because he didn't reply. He would but, maybe it was a rhetorical question or just something else? Izuku didn't have a clue.

Holding his pokédex out in front of him as the device came to life, it scanned the light blue pokémon with large whiskers that was in front of him. The creature’s eyes searched around as they stood on four legs, waiting for an opponent maybe? How experienced were they then, that they immediately scanned for opponents?

Shaking his head at the intrusive thoughts, Izuku turned his attention back on the red device held in front of him. Izuku noted that Gary had fallen deathly still as soon as he brought it out, pinning him with a glare that could kill. Too bad he grew up with Kacc— Bakugo and could withstand it. 

(“— _ He's not Kacchan, remember?”) _

“ **_Nidoran♀, the Poison Pin pokémon. A poison type pokémon. Though small, it must be treated with caution because of its powerfully toxic barbs. The female has smaller horns.”_ **

With eyes sparkling at the new information, Izuku stuffed the device back into his pocket, ignoring the stunned and almost furious look from the boy across from the court from him, a smile bursting from his face as he turned to Pidgey. “Are you ready girl?” Izuku asked. 

“PIDGEY!” Pidgey cawed, spreading out her wings and launching into the sky, wings easily catching air beneath them and sending her higher off the ground. 

Izuku took a moment to admire her flight pattern in the azure blue sky, dotted with white clouds floating leisurely as they stretched and pulled like cotton candy. 

She circled around with wings tilting, letting the wind carry her higher into the air before she let her wings tuck closer to her body and dropped a few feet. Sharp, beady black eyes landing on nidoran like predators do prey as she flies around, scoping the area to use to her advantage. With the wind drafts, they did have an advantage thankfully — though he had a feeling that Gary wasn't going to go easy on him, let alone hesitate to win. 

“A Pidgey?” Gary echoed, looking up at the bird pokémon with a raised eyebrow. His expression seems to be hiding something, but it's hard to see from this distance. “Interesting choice.”

Izuku gave a grin at that, leaning on the balls off his feet at the complement. (Was it a compliment? He can't really discern a double edged sword sentence.) “Thank you!”

Gary just looked amused.

“Alright! Let's get this show on the road!" Gary shouted with glee, his arm darting out with fingers spread out. A grin lighting its way on his face that seemed to make the light in his eyes glow, a happier presence and look coming onto them. 

“Nidoran, use scratch!”

The poison pin pokémon rushed towards Pidgey at the sound of her trainer's voice, white claws extended and glowing subtly. Kicking up dirt off of the barren field, eyes like slits locked onto the Pidgey, she charged forward with no sense of stopping or coming to a halt.

“Pidgey use gust!” Izuku commanded, sure that Nidoran wouldn’t be able to touch the flying pokémon once in the air. He doubted that this battle would be simple — Gary chose Nidoran for a reason after all. 

The duo had a plan, but what? 

Izuku let his eyes transition to Pidgey as she began to flap her wings, wisps of air beginning to become visible as they congregated in front of her. 

Izuku couldn’t see him clearly out of the corner of his eyes, but he thought Gary smirked at the move, something that made a dread pool into his stomach and a sense of unease made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. “You don’t think that will make you untouchable do you?” Gary questioned. 

Izuku had a feeling he already knew where this was going, and his eyes began widening in realization. “Jump Nidoran!” 

With the simple command, Nidoran leapt into the air towards Pidgey, causing Izuku to have his eyes widen in surprise — wider than before - and his mouth parted in surprise at the bold move. He simply stood and gaped; not able to bring himself to do more than lean on the back of his heels and stare in awe at the way the pokémon jumped almost elegantly. 

It was very beautiful, despite how he felt too frozen to act. His tongue lead in his mouth and fingers twitched; he distantly wondered why they did. Maybe it was the urge to take notes as the two fought; but he was only able to watch as Nidoran collided with Pidgeys soft tan underbelly, sending her flying with a pained caw at the impact. 

It hurt to watch. Feeling his heartbeat roar too loudly in his ears and his heart stutter and pause in his chest, jumping melodies as he ( _failure-useless-Deku-nothing—)_ was unable to do anything except watch. 

( _ You can't do anything right.)  _

“Pidgey!” Izuku cried out, his tongue laying heavy in his mouth and the feeling of anxiety lodging itself strictly in his throat, making it harder to breathe. 

His breath hitched.

He couldn't start losing his focus now.

A feeling of relief filled him at the sight of her twisting midair, wings flapping to buffer the fall that sent her of course. Mind racing, he recalculated, clenching his fists by his side and ignoring Aruba's nervous glance towards him.  _ Pidgey’s gust attacks aren’t powerful enough to be used high enough to avoid that jump — note to work on that later. They'll have to get in close to do damage — which is tricky due to Nidoran's surprising agility and physical abilities. I thought they were slower, but it turns out they aren't. We need to avoid her barbs, poison will take us out quickly.  _

“Use sand attack, then follow with a tackle!” Izuku commanded, careful to not let his voice waver and crack but Aruba stares up at him and  _ he wishes she would stop because he doesn't want to feel more like a failure than he already is—.  _

He snaps out of the thoughts racing; Izuku can't let it get to him. Pidgey was counting on him, and he was counting on her.

( _ “Mistakes are natural — there is nothing wrong with them.”) _

Izuku's let his eyes nervously darted out across the battlefield, trying to ignore the small pain that was gathering in his palms from the crescent moon indents digging into his skin or the heavy feeling in his mouth. Ignored the sense of failure firmly sticking like plaster to his body; like a second coat. 

_ (He just ignored it. He was good at that anyway.)  _

Pidgey flared her wings, talons scratching the ground. Sand flew up and obscured the blue pokémon from view; Izuku noticed he couldn't see Pidgey clearly — let alone Nidoran anymore, much to his chagrin. 

( _ The sense of nervousness was back, but Izuku trusted Pidgey.) _

Catching her figure amongst the plumes of dirt casted into the air, Izuku watched as Pidgey flew towards Nidoran, who was busy pawing her eyes as a result of the sand.

Pidgey, with her speed increased slightly by tackle ( _ Maybe they could work on increasing speed more efficiently? Such as agility practice or dodging? That would be a good idea) _ , cut through the sand and crashed into Nidoran’s exposed side, sending her flying as Pidgey sharply drew back up with the tilting of her wings. Circling back to where Izuku was with some scratches on her body.

“You did amazing Pidgey! That was an awesome tackle!” Izuku cheered, the comment reaffirmed by Aruba by his side, currently trying her best to pump her paws in the air like he was doing. The bright, cheerful smile that was quickly becoming a trademark stretched across his freckled skin. 

The bird pokémon cawed back, loud and clear in the air as the rush of air brought on by her fast arial tackle allowed for the dust to clear slightly; it was still visible, however the sand thinned enough for him and Gary to see the field more clearly. 

Izuku took the time to look at Gary and saw the other trainer grit his teeth, preparing his next move. 

They were on edge. He could see it in the clenching of hands by their side and brows drawer together with lines creasing on their head. Thinking.

“Pidgey, use a quick attack before Nidoran recovers!” Izuku cried out in a desperate attempt to pull ahead.

“Nidoran, use growl!” Gary cried out, losing his cool for the first time since Izuku had met him. He fought the reflex to flinch back in fear, despite the twitching in his fingers.

Izuku could see that Gary hadn’t expected his pokémon to be above level twelve; but Pidgey had to be at least one level above that to know quick attack. Which, they had recently unlocked — much to Izuku's amazement when they unlocked the move and added it to her assets. 

Nidoran spun to face the tiny bird pokémon, who was racing towards her, light streaming from below her wind creating a jet stream. The poison pin pokémon let out a fierce sounding growl, and Izuku saw Pidgey falter slightly before clipping Nidoran with her glowing wing, continuing past her before circling back towards and landing in front of Izuku. 

Gary’s attempt at salvaging the situation was for naught. Pidgey’s quick attack, combined with the previous damage from tackle, caused Nidoran to faint.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

Gary grimaced at the results of the first matchup, putting out that he had lost. 

His tongue swiped over his teeth trying to distract himself from his thoughts; it didn't do much. Eyes slightly furrowing, Gary stared at the foreigner that had managed to beat him. The boy wasn’t paying him any attention, focused completely on his pokémon instead.

Bloody Pidgey. 

He wanted to lash out at the kid, ask what  _ they did that makes them better, make them win because he can't do that not without a qui— _ , but his tongue felt heavy in his mouth. A stifling pressure was building up in the back of his throat. His hand rises to clutch the hem of his shirt with nails digging into the fabric, blinking back the water building up behind his eyes because Oaks don't cry. 

There was no need to cry because he could just bounce back and keep on improving. Keep going on because that's what he did at school — despite how tired he was of how everyone never focused on him. Always focused on the  _ old man; but never him when he needed it. He strove _ to be the best - to prove he was good at something because he wasn't like the Oaks before him. Push himself to the limits to prove he was just as good as them, but the defeat felt raw on his tongue. 

His hand dropped to his side, and he let it, not bothering to hold the limb back up.

Oaks didn't lose. They didn't. He wasn't allowed too because he had to be better. Had to be better than his parents because they were at the top of what they did and he wasn't. Had to be better than his grandfather because he's an esteemed professor and former champion, not to mention the creator of the pokéball and pokédex.

Better than his sister who won a coordinator contest at a young age. Better than her because she had her trophies in the house and he didn't because there were none.

Just better.

But he wasn't. 

( _ You're just a kid. _

_ But you're not. Not anymore.)  _

“Good job on the win,” Gary called, voice not betraying the turbulent emotions filling his thoughts. He wants to distract himself from the thoughts, because the feeling of pressure is building on his back, weighing him down more and more as seconds pass.

He gave a small grin for appearances sake, despite how much his face muscles protested, feeling more forced than anything he'd needed to do before. His dominant hand shifted into a thumbs up as he held his arm out in front of him, because despite how much he felt hurt by the kids' win, he had to admit they were good at battling. Dare he say he felt humbled by the fact that he could be beaten.

( _ Better than you.) _

“Thank you!” Izuku calls back cheerfully.

( _ What is it like, to never be forced into expectations?) _

“Pidgey?” Izuku's worried voice made Gary’s head snap up at the tone. He unconsciously took a step back as he blinked his eyes, barely noticing his nails digging into his palm. 

His eyes minutely widened, taking time to look at the Pidgey, even if the distance made the details a bit hard to see. It seemed Pidgey hadn't left the final clash unscathed. Maybe his loss wasn't that bad after all? The telltale sign of poisoning was rather obvious now that he was looking; the way the tiny bird seemed to flinch minutely in pain and the irregular, rapid fluttering and beating of hovering wings gave the status condition away. 

"Pidgey," Izuku called again, more urgent as they raised his arms up, unsure of what to do about the wounded pokémon.

He decided to at least humor the green; after all, it seemed to be their first battle and maybe they didn't really know what poisoning was? That seemed to be the case. "Squirt," Gary called, letting his body relax and a smug look overcome his face, placing a hand on his hip and slouching back. "Your pokémon is poisoned, must have hit Nidoran's barbs in that last attack. You should put them in their pokéball to pause the toxins, we have to stay here for a few more minutes before we can take them to the center." 

He let the smile grow on his face, tapping the other pokéball by his side, feeling it subtly shake in response. "After all, we still have another round before this battle ends."

The determined face caused by his statement almost made him grit his teeth in frustration, but he held his ground to not break his facade, despite the smile that slowly slid off of his face as a result. Purposefully turning away despite the squirt’s crystal clear "Get a good rest, Pidgey" which echoed across the field and the flash of red outside of the corner of his eye as the Pidgey vanished into the pokéball. 

"Alright!" Squirt called, looking to their Eevee on the ground, looking back at them. (Gary thinks he heard him call them Aruba). "I choose you Aruba! You can do it!" 

Gary nodded, looking at the normal type pokémon before he was tossing his own pokéball into the air, trying to ignore the rush of his heartbeat or the sense of joy of seeing his opponent on the field. His eyes lit up underneath the gleam off the sun as he let his lips curl in response.

"Go Squirtle!" 

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

Izuku watched as Aruba sprung from her side by his feet, her fur bristling in excitement. Tail puffed out and pupils narrowed in anticipation as she stared out across the battlefield.

Izuku was amazed at Gary’s Squirtle. Eyes wide and his mouth pulled into a look of awe at the blue colored pokémon with a shell on its back. He knew from his research beforehand that it was the rarest water starter of Kanto! Only one trainer each league session received one and to think he was privileged enough to see this pokémon already so soon. It felt like a dream come true!

Fumbling in his haste to scan the new creature, hands almost dropping the pokédex as he pulled it out, something he managed to catch at the last minute before there would be damage to the device. Scanning the blue creature, Izuku once again missing the scathing look Gary shot towards him at the sight of the little red device as he listened to the report.

**_"Squirtle: the Tiny Turtle pokémon. A water type pokémon. After birth, its back swells and hardens into a shell. It powerfully sprays foam from its mouth."_ **

Izuku's mind raced at the new information, doing his best to not get distracted at the endless possibilities and ideas forming in his mind at the implications of what a Squirtle's shell could do combined with a physical attack. 

Slipping the pokédex back into his pocket, Izuku turned to Aruba and pumped his fist in the air. “Are you ready Aruba! We can win this you know? I believe in you!”

Aruba puffed up her chest. “Eee Eevee!” She chirped up, attention never straying away from her opponent. Her legs were tense and bent, ready to dodge movement out of the way at a moment's notice. Izuku wondered when she picked up that subconsciously. 

Snapping out of his thoughts, Izuku set his face into a determined expression. His hands by the side of his body curled into fists and his own body tensed and curled back like a wounded spring being compressed. 

“Alright Aruba! Let's start this match off with a quick attack!" 

Izuku didn't catch the muttered "bold" from Gary across the battlefield, only keeping his eyes on Aruba as she darted around the field. Dust was being kicked up into the air and his eyes barely able to keep a clear track on her as she sped up, going fast enough to disorient him before turning to collide with Squirtle.

Before she made contact with the water starter, Gary made his move. “Squirtle use withdraw!”

Gary’s Squirtle reacted immediately, tucking it’s more vulnerable limbs into it’s hard shell, raising its defence but not completely nullifying Aruba’s attack. If Izuku had any doubts -  _ which he didn’t, Gary was so cool after all!  _ \- of how well Gary had trained his pokémon, they were dashed. Only a well trained pokémon would obey a trainer’s commands at the drop of a hat. 

Aruba made contact within seconds of Squirtle disappearing, colliding head first with her opponent’s brown shell. 

Aruba flew back into the air, slightly disorientation as she landed down back on all fours. She bared her teeth in annoyance, fur now coated with dust and residue from the clouds of debris above the surface, enhanced senses letting her stare straight at her opponent despite the dust.

Izuku’s eyes widened in surprise and shock once the particles of dust cleared, noticing that Gary's Squirtle was nearly untouched; no obvious scratches or scrapes other than a tiny mark where Aruba made contact. Squirtle’s shell faced towards him as the pokémon struck a proud pose at having defended the attack, and almost seemed to be grinning in smugness at the both of them that Izuku couldn't find it in himself to care. It was honestly a smart move and he was very curious to know how fast Squirltes could enter their shells considering the quick attack’s speed was fast enough that the user became a blur to a human’s eye. 

Gary smirked at the sight of Izuku’s surprise. “It’s our turn now!” the youngest Oak shouted. “Squirtle, use a water pulse attack!”

Once again, Gary’s Squirtle reacted within seconds of its trainer’s command. Nearly faster than Izuku or Aruba could react, it spun around on its stubby legs and shot an orb of water towards Aruba. It was a transparent light blue, with a white bubble-like design in the middle that reminded Izuku of a galaxy slowly circling in space. 

The orb rocketed towards Aruba, and Izuku scrambled to order Aruba out of the way. “Aruba,  ¶ dodge it! ¶ ” Izuku cried, his voice breaking on the last few characters he shouted in Japanese 

Izuku could only watch as the pulsing blue orb made its way towards Aruba at high volatile speeds from a close range. Something that wasn't a good combination, especially when he had a gut feeling about the Squirtle being a higher level then Aruba.

The fear of Aruba getting hurt clouded his thoughts that he couldn't think about the next  _ move _ . The next attack or plan he was supposed to be creating. All he could do was watch.

He realized that it was one of the worst feelings in the world; to only watch but never be able to partake in it.

Izuku stifled his surprised note of shock as Aruba barely managed to dodge it, the edges of the attack striking against her side and sending her flying back into the air. Watching her — with as much grace as they can muster — land back down on the ground with a few scratches predominantly into her fur. Skidding back and leaving small tracksuits the dust as she held her stance, slightly panting from the exertion of force.

"Aruba!" Izuku called from his place on the field, his hand raised up to his face and eyes nervously furrowing in worry. "Are you okay?"

"Ee!"

Letting out a sigh of relief at the answer, Izuku let himself go back into indecisive planning to counter Gary's Squirtle and win this battle. Green eyes darting around the field, not lingering on a moment for a second too long. Wondering what they should do next in terms of offense considering a direct attack would not work - with just how agile and resourceful Squirtle was, another direct attack could put them critically injured and cause them to possibly faint with a close up water pulse attack. 

Biting his lower bottom lip, Izuku looked back at Aruba, still patiently looking back at him for his next call. Their next  _ move. _

Gary tsked, causing him to snap his neck up towards them, looking at the impatient look across their face with a sense of guilt at how slow he was at brainstorming what to do."Squirtle use bite! Keep right on their tail and don't let up!"

The lightbulb inside of his mind snapped on, previous panic gone. "Aruba don't let Squirtle touch you! Bring up as much dust and dirt as you can with a sand attack, okay?"

Aruba sprung into action, paws ready to fling the earth at Squirtle, who was rapidly approaching from the right side of the battlefield. As she touched the ground, however, Aruba’s front limbs gave way, sending her carrining into the ground below. 

Izuku froze, wondering how he hadn't noticed the pain in her front leg that possibly caused her to slip. How didn't he notice? 

That slip cost her: Squirtle's maw latched onto her hind leg, digging their teeth into the brown fur. 

Aruba cried out in pain, having taken significant damage from both her impact with the ground and the dark type attack. 

Any clarity Izuku had regained after Aruba’s near escape disappeared into thin smoke. The panic returning to him and feeling his breathing rapidly pick up through the harsh sounds of his blood roaring in his ears and the scuffle currently on the field. His fingernails digging into the palms of his skins, almost so much so he wondered if little prices of blood were starting to form.  _ What was happening? Is Aruba hurt? No not again nonononono- _

_ And _

_ he  _

_ couldn't  _

_ breathe.  _

"Water pulse has a twenty percent chance of confusing the pokémon that is hit by it, Squirt," Gary called out nonchalantly. 

_ Yet, _

_ everything  _

_ was  _

_ static. _

Izuku stared uncomprehendingly, unable to shake the panic caused by his flashbacks? The scenes clipped together in rapid motion?? Out of order and in a jumbled scrambled mess? No, they were Memories, he thinks. He doesn't know. 

Aruba's cries were nothing new to him, despite how much he loathed the fact. A fact that settled on his tongue like bitter candy slowly rotting there, turning worse by the second. He loathed it. It was something never new after all. Not unprecedented. Not a new discovery to his adverse reaction to freeze up hearing them; it was just there. It had been  _ there  _ for a while. 

Images of red eyes and blond, spiky hair overlapped with a darker, more dirty blonde, brown eyes, and Izuku felt his breathing grow faster despite the suffocating feeling he had. He knew it wasn't real, that this was just a memory blurry lines of the past and present. 

It didn't mean it didn't hold the same effect as it did in the past.

K̶̘͎̗͚̪͚͍͂̎ä̷́́̽c̶̏͛̓͋͘h̷͐͋̌̌͐̃͘͝ā̴͓̥͓̾̇̋̈́͝n̶̗̗̳̙̘͈̫̞̼̔͜ͅ G̷a̷r̴y̴ ̷cried out a gleeful "L̴e̸t̷'̴s̶ ̴f̴i̷n̴i̸s̶h̴ ̷t̵h̶i̸s̶ ̴u̷p̶ ̵D̴͇̉̾̑̾ę̸̤͙̞̆̾̄ǩ̵̹͍̰̊̒u̸̧͈̅̓! C̴̨̔͋͗͛̚ͅy̸̖̣̫̺̍̓̋n̵̩̜͚͂̂d̶̢͈̾a̷̢͂͜q̵̢̞͈͚͗̃̕ͅu̴̢͈̗͚̅̇ͅi̶͎͚̇͊̋̕ͅl̸̪͖͇̗̱̓̅ S̵q̷u̶i̴r̴t̵l̶e̵ ̴u̴s̸e̸ E̴̛͍̯͎̺͉̿̋̇m̴̢̖̠̞̚b̸͕̻̏͐̓̕ễ̵̦̩̱̼̖̔̀ŗ̴̡̪̤͗̔͂̇͠ͅ W̶a̵t̴e̸r̸ ̸G̶u̶n̸!̴" 

Izuku blinked. 

_ Water Gun? _

That didn't add up with the memory. 

Izuku realized many things all at once. Cyndaquill couldn't use Water Gun, it was a fire pokémon after all. Kacha- Katsuki was in Japan. He was in Kanto, not in Japan with mom, mulling over a computer screen and piles of notebooks. He was in the middle of a battle. Aruba still had Squirtle latched into her leg, about to get hit by a water gun point blank. 

Izuku could see the glowing blue light of Squirtle’s attack charging up, ready to be released in any second, and reacted without a thought. “Aruba! Shake Squirtle off with a quick attack, use your momentum to knock them off Aruba!” Izuku cried out, voice still shaking but still able to be heard clearly in the clearing.

Aruba’s head cocked to the side at the sound of his voice, snapping out of whatever had taken control of her movements. With a cry of “Ee!” she lunged forward, trying to shake the tiny turtle’s grip on her leg. 

She did just that. Pushing her weight on her front paws as she grappled forward and into the ground before swerving sharply in the opposite direction. Izuku could see that Squirtles’ teeth dug painfully into her fur, but due to the duo’s weight and the momentum, the tiny turtle’s grasp was released and the blue and brown pokémon flew in the opposite direction, water gun cut off due to Squirtles’ maw closing with a snap.

"Follow up with another quick attack!" Izuku called frantically, hoping for them to shoot their shot as quickly as they could before Squirtle could regain its footing. "Aim for the chin! It is a weak point!"

"Squirtle, get up before Eevee can connect!" Gary said in a rushed tone.

Aruba continued the attack, wheeling around to face her opponent and springing forward to attack with a burst of energy. Using her built up momentum and energy, Aruba rammed herself into the bottom of Squirtle’s chin. 

“Squirtle!” Izuku heard Gary call out, a tinge of panic laced in his normally controlled voice.

Izuku watched as Squirtle flew backwards and into the ground, looking slightly dazed at the direct attack. Slightly wincing at how painful that attack might have been for them.

"Get up Squirtle, the battle isn't over yet," Gary called.

Gritting his teeth, Izuku watched as Squirtle stood up, letting his gaze drop to Aruba who was scratched up but still standing, despite the small shivers she was experiencing from the burst of wind, a bit of fur missing from her hind leg. 

His eyes darted up again, trying to ignore the almost stifling silence of the world around them. He absentmindedly noticed the small pebbles and rocks that had been exposed in the field in front of him, covered in dust and still buried half-way. 

"Squirtle use—" Gary began, having noticed Squirtle getting back up. It was slightly wobbling on its legs, balance unsteady, before finally standing tall and proud, about to move forward with its eyes planted on Aruba.

Before the Oak team could go back on the attack, Squirtle began to glow.

_ Izuku blinked _ , his eyes widening in shock; taking a step back, nearly tripping on his shoelaces.

He wondered what was going on; Squirtle had been overtaken in a blue glow - lighter waves rippling off through the matter in a memorizing wave pattern around the water pokémon, slowly rippling and growing larger.

It was  _ beautiful.  _

Even if he didn't know what was going on.

Izuku was simply memorized at the glow, which grew bigger and brighter the longer it existed. 

And even though the gut feeling of anxiousness was gnawing at his stomach at the unknown, he found that he didn't fear it at the moment. It was not fear at what was to come, but surprise and shock at what new thing he would be seeing, and he found it was a welcome change.

Finally, the blue light dissipated into thin air, revealing a new, larger pokémon standing there unphased at what had happened. The pokémon opened its mouth in the imitation of a roar, curled up claws spreading out into the air, much sharper than before. The pokémon's tail was now more of a wave pattern like the small cloud shapes beside its eyes, and looked soft — almost like fur. 

Was this just a new evolution of Squirtle? Did that mean it had an evolution line?

Looking up, Izuku stared at the similar pokedex device currently in Gary's hand, surprised he also carried one of the designated devices Professor Oak gave. But this was his grandson so it would be handed to him.

" **_Wartortle: the Turtle pokémon. When tapped, this Pokémon will pull in its head, but its tail will still stick out a little bit."_ **

"That's so cool!" Izuku whispered excitedly, casting a glance towards his notebook resting beside his feet, itching to pick it up and take notes but not wanting to seem rude. " _ Does this mean it can use an attack while in its shell? Like a spin attack because of how hard and dense the shell could have in a direct impact?? Does Wartortle have another evolution? Does—" _

"Hey Squirt," Gary called out, tapping his foot against the ground, "Pay attention. Let's give this our all alright?"

Izuku nodded in reply, barely noticing he'd been spacing out and possibly mumbling again. Shaking his head to clear his mind, keeping a hand down on his hat so it doesn't fly off, he turned to Aruba and smiled.

"Put everything you got into this quick attack okay? Go out the best you can," Izuku commanded softly, giving a thumbs up in the air and watching Aruba return it with a tail wag.

Turning back to the field, Izuku knew deep down that it was inevitable that they had lost. It was a stronger opponent after all; a more experienced trainer they were up against. 

Yet, as Gary called out rapid spin and Aruba launched forward into quick attack, it was one of the most amazing moments of his life.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Sunday August 5, 2210**

**Viridian City, Kanto**

**4:00 PM**

  
  


“Thank you Bella for the drinks!” Izuku chirped, sending a wide, kind smile towards the owner of the cafe they were currently sitting in and a small hand wave where white bandages were obvious against pale freckled skin. The duo agreed to meet up in the cafe once their pokémon were healed after the battle. Izuku had rated it highly; Gary didn't really care about locations and destinations here in the city - he only came to Viridian because of the gym after all - but he could admit the cafe was rather nice. Dark wood floors were covered by plush chairs; walls lined with books and plants, and a distinct lack of people filling in the space made it the ideal hangout. He could see why the squirt may like being here. 

Sitting down by one of the tables beside the windows, his feet dangling off of the high rise chair, Gary gave himself a moment of silence to stare at the person across from him. 

His gaze lingered on the boy’s smile. Gary’s nose scrunched up and his eyes narrowed the sight of it; for some reason, that smile really pissed him off. He didn't know why, it was just a smile after all. A smile full of teeth and dimples squishing into the squirt’s cheeks that showed his emotions sharp and clear, but it made him want to fidget, waiting for it to fall right off of their face like water.

Despite how natural it looked on them like a second skin, Gary couldn't help but wonder why Izuku’s smiles held so much warmth on the exterior, like a personified sun, yet held hints of a cold, bitter interior.

It just felt fake.

Shaking his head subtly and knocking himself out of his thoughts, Gary let his gaze settle on the drinks sitting on the table in front of him. He absentmindedly pulled the red drink towards him and ignored the feeling of condensation that was beginning to trickle alongside the glass, making him wipe his wet hands on his pants. Deep meridian eyes, so dark they appeared black in the indoor lighting, glanced over to the cup of coffee the other held, a rose as decoration in the steamed milk. It's much more put together and made than what Gramps made everyday.

A hesitant “Do you not like your drink?” cut through the silence of the cafe.

It took a moment for Gary to realize the question was directed towards him, mind noting how condensation still prickled alongside the glass, water droplets growing bigger as they remained undisturbed since he moved the drink closer to his person. 

In a frantic motion in the spike of panic he got as a result of the question, Gary took a sip to let his mind formulate a response, not wanting the other boy to worry about them not liking the drink they bought for him. It was fruity and a bit sweeter than what he normally drank, but he rather liked it. He didn't want to seem ungrateful after all, even if he still wasn't all too comfortable around the other boy, but maybe that would change with this meeting. Was it a meeting or a playdate? A hangout? He didn't really know what to call this occurrence. 

Gramps said it was wrong to judge someone just on their appearance alone. The duo hadn’t even talked much either, so he couldn’t start jumping to conclusions no matter how eager his brain was to do so.

Realizing the other boy was still waiting for an answer, Gary shrugged his shoulders, twirling the straw in-between his fingers and looked outside towards the window, wanting to avoid his viridian eyes. “It's good; rather fruity and sweet for my tastes though,” he admitted, not wanting to seem rude. 

“Do you— do you want another?" Squirt asked in a nervous tone, eyes darting around to avoid eye contact. Did they ever stay still? Gary could see their finger tapping too alongside the desk in anxiety. It was annoying. “I don't mind getting you another drink if this isn't good—”

“It's fine, the drink’s fine,” Gary cuts Izuku off before he could continue. He almost felt bad for cutting them off from speaking, but they looked on the verge of the panic attack the longer he talked. They always seemed to be in a panic, from the moments on the field or the way they ever held eye contact.

“Are you… are you sure? I don't mind.”

_ Well he minded now.  _ “Just drop it, the drink is fine,” Gary sighed in exasperation, carding his hand through his hair, resisting to tug at the knots that took up residence during the day’s events with his fingers. “It's just different than what I am used to, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad.”

Taking another sip off his drink, Gary let the sounds of whirring coffee machines from behind the counter and the distant chatter of patreons fill in the silence that settled between the two boys after their conversation. The white noise consisted of the grinding of coffee beans, short conversations between the owner and the customer, and the small snores escaping from the other boy’s Eevee created an easy environment to sit and wallow in his thoughts and let time pass by before they had to go. 

Amidst the peaceful environment, the questions that burned in the back of his mind during their battle came roaring back into his mind with a vengeance, a growing weight on the back of his mind at all the unanswered things he wanted to spill from his mouth like a tap. 

"How did you get a Pokédex?" Gary blurted out, careful to keep the jealousy from bleeding out into his words like an open wound. "Or better yet, how did you manage to convince Gramps to give you one?"

"I — what? Is it not common for people to obtain one? I—" 

Gary narrowed his eyes, watching as they instantly closed their mouth from continuing to sputter. He almost missed the flash of fear in their viridian eyes or the way he leaned back slightly in the chair, away from him. Now wasn't that strange behavior? ( _ He can't help but think of their match—). _ "You're a foreigner too, so how did you even get one? Even after spending the day with you, I've seen nothing special about you; you're ordinary. So why? Why did you get one?" Gary lied, trying to figure out why this  _ child _ , of all people, received the pokédex. After all, not even the Viridian gym leader had pushed Squirtle far enough to evolve - and while Gary could admit that they were nowhere near the levels of leaders like the Elite Four, he was the top scoring new trainer in Kanto.

"I— "

He wants to shut up. Wants to stop talking before he says something he regrets or simply can't fathom to comprehend why he said that, let alone if it is anything incriminating. Yet he doesn't, the words slip past his lips so quickly he doesn't register what he said, unable to do anything but watch the shifting emotions across the boy’s face after they’d already left his mouth. Izuku’s viridian eyes widened and mouth parted open in surprise, the sunshine 's smile long gone. Izuku would have dropped the cup of coffee onto the table if it wasn't for his Eevee knocking him out of his lapse in attention with a harsh nudge into his shoulder. Gary simply watched as Izuku just stared, unable to interpret the emotions in his eyes. Maybe in hatred? Shock? Surprise?

Noticing he was almost out of his chair, Gary settled back down, and looked away from the looks of disgust he would get after they had gotten over their surprise. The familiar scrape of a chair against wood flooring would follow, and the other person would walk away. Gary managed to wrestle the tension from his shoulders and let his posture relax back into the seat. He let his body language do the talking in the stiff silence that once again descended into the space between the two boys.

He shouldn't have had his emotions get the best of him; it was unbecoming of an Oak. 

He shouldn't have even said that, because now he would be left behind. To be forgotten and discarded because he was an abnormality.

Seconds ticked by, and Gary realized that the scraping of the chair and the retreating footsteps never came.

Was Izuku Midoriya just toying with him? Trying to make him seem like a fool?  _ What if he wants to stay though? But why would he? He still is a good person, despite the obvious issues he had. He shouldn't spend time with someone like me.  _

"Why aren't you walking away?" Gary asked hesitantly, longing to know the answer despite how much it will hurt him.

An unnamed emotion passed over the viridian eyes boring into him, gone too fast for him to identify before it vanished, leaving only empty pools in its wake. Izuku’s hands fidgeting on the table; uncertainty obvious and his coffee long forgotten on the table. Heat no longer wafted up as steam from the mug that sat on the saucer. "I just know what it's like, to be discarded too,” Izuku replied softly. 

Gary was confused, the words didn’t make sense. He stared and swallowed the harsh laugh that wanted to erupt from his throat at the choice of words. A mumbled "Yeah right," escaping his lips unwillingly, cutting through the silence that stretched between them once again, highlighting just how uncomfortable both the boys are now. 

It's harder to concentrate now. Trying to not let his mind replay the words he said to them over and over, or focus on the anxiety gripping his heart like an Arbok wrapped around his chest cavity. He just wanted to focus on the outside, not on the inside where everything was out of balance and all he could do is stare and watch everything fall apart.

He just wishes they would leave him alone now then toy with him. Toy with the possibility of him ever having a friend or someone who wouldn't look down on him in every possible way just because he lacked a certain genetic sequence so many people have these days.

"I'm — "

"You're what? Privileged? Able to get on Gramps good side in minutes, when I haven’t managed to do that in the years I’ve lived with him? What do you have that I don’t!? A quirk!?"

Izuku doesn't respond and he scoffs, trying to hide the pain in his eyes because he doesn't want to push the other boy away, not really. He wants a friend to hang out with. He wants a rival to compete with and drive him forward. But everyone just betrays him in the end, and this will be no different. 

Everyone uses him just because he's a descendent of famous people. 

Uses him because he isn't strong. 

Who's to say Izuku won't do the same to him like countless people have already done to him?

"Just leave me alone, you won't gain anything out of me."

"But, I'm not trying to gain anything from you?" Izuku responded to the accusation with a questioning tone, blinking in surprise. His nose scrunching up with cheeks pushing up their eyes, a genuine smile overcoming their face; not the sunshine smile from before, but a more hesitant, vulnerable smile. Izuku glanced away from him to look at his Eevee in his lap, a hand combing through brown fur. "Why would I?"  _ Because everyone does. You're not excluded..  _ "You're an amazing rival after all,” Izuku continued as if he hadn’t become the outlier in all of Gary’s past interactions. 

Gary blinked, barely comprehending what they just said. He felt as though ice water just got poured onto him, yet he didn’t wake from whatever this dream was. After all, it was just said to make him feel better in the end, right? That's what people did to cheer him up; just lie and hope he doesn't pick up on it. Yet, this didn't feel like a lie, it just felt honest.

_ Maybe that was the scary part of this.  _

_ They were being honest. _

"You're kidding right?" Gary chuckled jokingly, nervously scratching the side of his head, trying to focus on occupying his hands then this conversation. He almost hoped it was a lie now, because then this situation would make sense and not just be a jumped mess of incoherent thoughts formulating in his mind.

"No," Izuku responded back bluntly, seemingly confused if his furrowed brows were any indicator. "You're amazing and an absolutely fantastic rival."

His heart skipped a beat and Gary held back on asking why they thought of that despite the question clawing in his throat. Why they hadn't pushed him away because,

Because…

"I don't have a quirk either, you know..." Izuku said like an afterthought, making him freeze in response, "It's why I left Japan after all. The discrimination was really bad and I got kicked out of school because they accused me of abusing Aruba — oh, that’s my Eevee — but it was really the other students and their pokémon. She’d jump in front of me when they would attack me. The staff blamed it on me and I already couldn't defend myself so it unfolded from thei—."

Izuku froze, pausing his words, looking away from him as a red flush entered his cheeks and he rapidly began to wave his hands in front of him. "Ah sorry! I didn't mean to overshare! Please just ignore what I said," the newly revealed fellow quirkless blurted out in a panicked tone. He turned away, the tips of their ears red under the brim of the floppy hat.

"It's," Gary paused, wondering what to say at this moment. It was a very surreal conversation that he honestly thought he wasn't going to have so early in his journey. It was more confusing though, when he couldn't even tell if it was the truth or the lie. His mind was full of questions; the minute he got an answer to one, three more questions appeared. _What led to them being kicked out? Are they really quirkless or are they trying to empathize with him? What even is Japan? Is it an island? Continent? A country? Is that where they got the accent from?_ He settled on asking the most forefront question in his mind at the moment before tackling other things. "It's fine, but, what is Japan?" 

Maybe if he avoids the question it won't be true. 

Or if he avoids it then it won't be brought up.

The look Izuku has that glazes over their eyes makes him want to turn away and avoid the direct confrontation altogether, but he holds his ground sitting at the table and takes a sip at his drink. 

He just hates how they see through him like a poster boy.

"Well," Izuku begins, their head turning away from their pokémon to stare outside the large windows onto the sun-ray filled street below, "It is a country and a — ¶ _ oh what's the word?¶  _ — Ah, well," he stuttered, looking abashed despite him not being able to latch onto what the last bit is. "It's not a r-region… am I saying that right? I think Japan’s technically a territory of Galar? But anyhow, it is pretty large and there are these people called heroes and they have all these amazing quirks and pokémon! Like  ∆ All Might ∆  with his Stoutland — I think that is what it is called and they have these moves called—"

"Let me guess, none of them have weak quirks or invisible quirks?" Gary cuts in before Izuku can get lost in a tangent. 

Izuku clammed right up and looked away almost instantly at his hands.

He almost felt bad too for interrupting them when they looked so happy talking about these ‘heroes' from Japan. Izuku was completely fanboying over them, especially the one named " ∆ All Might ∆" . Which was a stupid persona name if you asked him.

Pursuing his lips, Gary’s mumbled "I'm sorry" slipped past and into the awkward silence back at the table.

"No — no," Izuku shook his head back and forth, "It's fine. You did nothing wrong."

_ He does everything wrong.  _

Gary doesn't voice that.

"You're an interesting rival," Izuku voices out of the blue. A soft look has entered his viridian eyes, harsh against the sunlight streaming into the windows and onto the surfaces and body below, illuminating his wavy dark green hair and comfortable looking clothes. "I like hanging out with you. I hope we can still be rivals."

Resisting the urge to widen his eyes, Gary took a new approach and stared puzzled at them, eyes blinking rapidly at the words playing on repeat in his mind. It was awfully strange to hear the words come from someone he just met; who he knows barely any information about other than they’re a foreigner, quirkless, has three pokémon, and a very stubborn head. The minutes ticked by, and the significance of everything Izuku had said was beginning to sink in. 

"Y-yeah," Gary chokes out, his eyes widening in wonder as Izuku holds out his hand to initiate a handshake. Gary was careful to not let the intense feeling of pride rush to his head despite how much he missed the feeling of it entering his bloodstream. 

Gary takes a hold of his hand and Izuku beams, all but shaking it enthusiastically. "What a one in a gazillion chance that I was able to meet you," Izuku says, beaming. 

"I don't think gazillion is a word," Gary scoffs, but a smile spreads across his face in response.

"It now is!" Izuku huffed with indignation, drawing his hand back to his sides. His smile is a bit more wider now and eyes are shining with emotions. The Eevee — Aruba, Gary remembers — in his lap is staring back at him with warm chocolate eyes that seem to convey more emotion than he had seen from a Pokémon before. 

Gary can't help but throw his head back and laugh. The sound resonated deep from his chest, slipping past vocal cords as it exploded out of him. His cheeks began to ache from how hard he was smiling. With the tense silence completely broken, the boys began to chat about lighter topics as minutes slipped past them like water. 

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

Gary smiled down at the text he had received moments before.

He hadn’t realized Izuku took a picture of that moment until he showed it to him when they were leaving. Debating with himself if he should ask for more out of wanting to hold onto the photos, but it didn't matter because the squirt decided to send them anyway in an influx of messages.

And wasn't that strange; making friends based on personal connection rather than because they want to get closer to his Grandpa. 

Looking at the picture on his own phone in the new message chat Squirt created, he gazed on the photo of them squished together in the frame, his arm thrown around Izuku and both of them holding up a peace sign at the camera. One with a bandaged hand and the other with small scars from running in the woods and climbing onto trees. Smiles encompassed both their faces, and Aruba the Eevee perched on top the floppy hat adorning Izuku’s head, staring ahead and doing their best impression of a smile. The city could be seen behind them through the window, lit up in an ethereal glow by the setting sun. Gary downloaded the photo and set it to his wallscreen.

He let a huff of laughter and turned towards the Viridian Gym, a small resting smile across his face. Shutting off his phone and slipping both of his hands into his cargo pants pockets as he looked out across at the streets of the city.

"What is the possibility of finding another quirkless person just like you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Ok so before the hounds of war are released, let me explain.
> 
> We have definitely changed up the whole Oak family to fit into the BNHA universe, so they'll definitely seem OOC. We have big plans for the Oaks, so if anything seems odd, it's because it hasn't been explained yet.
> 
> We tried to mash together the Gary Oak character and the Blue Oak character, because Gary was a brat in the anime, and we wanted a more mature Gary.
> 
> ON THE TOPIC OF POKEBALLS:  
> We've changed around the whole history of the pokeball. Originally, it had been around for at least 40 years based on Pokemon 4Ever, but we've taken the liberty to change that for quirks. Professor Oak is not the original creator of the pokeball in canon.
> 
> Anyways, have a good day, and stay safe! <3000  
> Spedicorn~


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku wonders. 
> 
> He wonders a lot of things.
> 
> But maybe it's okay to stop wondering and just let go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> — Mmmm, not the best chapter but the next chapter will be a lot more better honestly. Break will be happening after all and I think we will have much more and plenty of time to write a lot more. So, look out for the next chapter because the plot will be moving forward a lot more now! :) I can't wait.
> 
> — Sorry it took so long!
> 
> ~Calvera

**Wednesday August 8th, 2210**

**Viridian City, Kanto**

**6:45 AM**

A knock at the door drew his attention from where he was on the floor. Sitting around his unpacked items currently set aside into piles and being reorganized to fit into his bag set off to the side and pushed up against the chair. Scrambling up, Izuku made sure to stay quiet enough that Aruba, Rattata, and Pidgey wouldn’t awaken from where they were still asleep on the bed beside him. It was early after all and they were going to be travelling today, so it was better to let them rest for the journey ahead. 

After a tense game of hopscotch over the items strewn across the floor, nearly humbly a few times, Izuku reached the now silent door. His half asleep mind wondered who could be at his door this early in the morning. Gary had left two days ago, he remembered, so he wouldn't be at his door this morning.

The cold metal of the door handle startled him when he grasped it, causing him to open the door much faster than intended, minutely winding at the thought of his sleeping pokémon going to wake up. The door flew back on well-oiled hinges right into his sock covered foot.

His face contorted into a grimace, a yelp escaping his mouth at the sharp pain, which was much like a stubbed toe, and let go of the door in lieu of grabbing his injured appendage. Hopping in place for a few steps before placing his foot back down, suspending his foot into the air to avoid aggravating the pain even more. Glancing back at his pokémon with a wince, pulling his shoulders up to his neck in embarrassment as the door shut with a click again, snapping him out of his daze. Swiveling back to the offending door that was now closed.

Blinking stupidly at the door, Izuku stood and stared for more than a few moments before he remembered his reason for opening the thing in the first place. Eyes widening as he scrambled forward, opening the door, this time making sure to move out of the way. Having to hop a bit awkwardly to successfully move out of the way this time then risk getting his toe jabbed by the door again.

Apologies spilled out in a waterfall on his lips to the random person at his door. Barely questioning who they were other than that he was sorry. Sorry for slamming the door on their face. Sorry for being a mess. Lowering his body into a bow out of apology and welcoming, even if it was more lower then it would be for a normal greeting and apology bow.

“Well, ” the person said when he stopped talking, sounding slightly embarrassed, “I have no idea what you said, but it is alright, you did nothing wrong after all. I'm just here to give you your league card.” 

Izuku winced slightly, realizing he had said everything in a rush of Japanese. Which was either good or bad in this situation because he had no clue what he had even said and yet he had been apologizing profusely on slamming the door in their face. 

Furrowing his brows and looking up from their shoes, Izuku saw that it was Nurse Joy in front of him. Dressed in the usual pink and white uniform, the nurse somehow looked well-dressed even though it was somewhere around 6:15 A.M in the morning. Biting down the word vomit he wanted to spill but had died upon his lips due to embarrassment and anxiety, Izuku just nodded in response to what she was saying, trying to connect the dots on what a league card was and if that was the reason why he had to give out a three-digit number and have a photo taken in a pose a few days ago.

Though, he’d figure it out after; Nurse Joy was still talking. The words were hard just to focus on as he listened to her voice,having to translate it into Japanese to comprehend what she was saying in the first place. His brain was slow though that he knew he was missing parts of what she was saying the longer she spoke. Half worded sentences spilled from her lips like a tap, and yet he was barely getting any sense of what was said because the clipped phrases and words didn't correlate and combine together without context. No droplets of understanding would fall onto his fingertips even if he were close to the water.

“...here they are — cards!” 

Nurse Joy stuck out her hand suddenly, making him subconsciously flinch back on surprise as she held up an envelope. The faint imprint of the league card being seen through the thin paper as he took a hold off it and nodded, giving a scarce smile he could muster through his tiredness. He bet she could see the eyebags sinking into his skin; he could definitely feel the upcoming of a yawn trying to escape his mouth. “Thank you, Nurse Joy, ” Izuku said slightly slurred, proceeding to bow down again.

“You don't have to bow, no need to be so formal, ” Nurse Joy commented lightly after he rose back from the position. Izuku had to bite the tip off his tongue to avoid speaking up that it was tradition to bow and it was hard to break it. 

“Anyhow, ” Nurse Joy continued unbothered, brushing out the helm of her dress. She glanced away, looking towards the illuminated hallway of low lit LED lights. “You're welcome. See you soon at the front desk!”

Nodding and giving a small hum in notice, Izuku closed the door as she left, a sigh escaping him at the messy interaction. It made his skin crawl underneath the sweater he had on, looking back at how he acted; so dissociated and disconnected from the conversation itself.

Pushing his slightly wet hair residue from the early morning shower, Izuku pressed his back up against the wooden door, holding up the envelope in the air. Eyes focused on the thin paper, faint outline of the cards (it looked like cards, he wasn't sure) pressing through; the sun rays had begun to shine through his window, cascading around the room and cutting through the darkness, making it much easier to see.

Back straightening, his eyes darted back around his room as he began to walk forward. Izuku looked around through the hazy darkness, hands gliding across the comforter on the top of his bed in search of his phone to shine light on what the cards looked like. His hands skimmed across the soft fabric, doing his best not to put pressure and cause dips in the bed that would wake his pokémon. 

Feeling the familiar device under his palm, Izuku gently grabbed it, fingers deftly encompassing the device. He noted how the case was slightly wet, and looked down to see that Rattata had awoken long enough to nose his phone closer to him, and was now nodding off back to sleep. Giving a soft smile, he scratched the top of her head and combed his fingers through her short fur, carefully avoiding bending her shorter whiskers.

“Thank you, Rattata, that was really helpful of you,” Izuku whispered, giving the purple mouse one final pat on the head. He let his hand drift back to his side as he sat down on the floor beside the bed. Moments later he nearly stood back up in alarm as Rattata climbed onto his shoulder unexpectedly, small nails digging into his loose t-shirt. 

Blinking at the scarlet eyes staring back at him, Izuku mentally shrugged and diverted his attention back to the envelope. “I'm surprised you don't want to go back to sleep, it is early right now after all,” Izuku whispered quietly, shifting his legs to get into a more comfortable position against the cold hardwood floor. Pulling his knees towards his chest, Izuku shifted so the paper could rest on his legs so he wouldn’t have to keep bending down or shift his torso or shoulders much.

“Rattata ra!” Rattata responded to his whispered comment, causing Izuku’s expression to melt into a smile even if he didn't understand what she was saying.

Careful to not move his shoulder and disrupt Rattata's hold, Izuku gave a nod and powered on his phone. Moving slowly, he turned on the flashlight and, as carefully as he could, pointed it at the envelope, trying to avoid disturbing the mouse pokémon. “Alright, let's see what's in the envelope.”

Opening the thin paper carefully, Izuku slid out one of the cards that his fingers grazed against and held it up, pointing his camera straight at the plastic rectangle card. Staring back was a picture of him, holding up a peace sign and grinning brightly in a photo that looked surprisingly in very good HD quality. The background is a light blue with small stripes of white and purple streamlining against the back, making his own green-toned appearance pop out against the card. The numbers "002" rested near the bottom of the card; inscribed to show his league number.

“Mom would like this, ” Izuku murmured, ignoring the pang of homesickness that shot straight through his heart at the thought of her. His eyes started to water before he quickly brushed them back with his hand, focusing on something else by flipping over the card itself and glancing at the blank back before turning it around once again. 

Izuku slipped his phone out of the case and put the copy of the card in the back, nestling it between the device and his All Might themed case. Once he finished tucking away his copy of the card, Izuku leaned back as carefully as he could, letting his hands drop to his side. His phone clattered to the ground, and the envelope soon fell on top of it. Blinking his eyes slowly as he stared up at the ceiling, he tried to ignore the feeling of his eyebags resting uncomfortably on his face or the homesickness stirring in his gut, making it harder to breathe through the nausea he was enveloped with. 

“Rata?” Rattata squeaked, sounding worried as she scrambled off his shoulder and down into his lap. 

“Mm, ” Izuku responded, snapping out of his spiralling thoughts, looking down at the piles of things he had to sort to fit into the travel bag. He gently moved Rattata off of his lap so that he could continue working. “You don't really know my mom — same with Pidgey but, she's really nice and amazing. Like! She was always there for me and is always amazing and very kind —," Izuku explained, trying to ignore wincing at the repeated words and phrases he was spouting. 

“I miss her a lot,” Izuku finished awkwardly, not being able to articulate exactly what he was feeling in Kantonese quiet yet.

The silence was deafening as he trailed off, not knowing what to add to his explanation. It wasn't overbearing, just slightly uncomfortable, so he ended up putting on music to fill it in. He focused solely on putting everything together and looking over his checklist, adding ‘ _Go to Post Office_ ’ and _‘Shop for food and supplies’_ onto the list in black pen. 

He didn't mind Rattata trying to help as he slipped his notebooks into his bag, an envelope tucked between them to prevent wrinkling, leaving one out to slip into his flannel pocket. Rattata handed his stationery supplies over; held in her mouth but surprisingly not as wet once handed to him.

Pidgey had woken up when he had to move her off of the bed to fix the sheets, but Izuku soon slipped her into her pokéball, adding it into his flannel pocket with a muffled "Sorry." Aruba had woken up along with Pidgey, but Izuku knew she hated her pokéball so he didn't bother trying to get her to enter it. Eventually, his friends were all off the bed and he was able to slip the covers back onto the bed, tugging and smoothing out the thin blanket so that it didn't touch the floor.

Standing up and brushing off his black trousers, Izuku looked around the cleaned room with a nod and a bright smile, happy to see that he had finished packing everything except for what needed to be out - all that was left was to sign out of the pokémon center.

Izuku ignored the sharp spike of anxiety at the thought of not knowing what was to come next ringing through him. The thought of new discovery excited him, yet the anxiety and worry that he wasn’t good enough to make the journey accompanied his cheerful thoughts and cast a shadow on his mood. Shaking his head, not wanting to dwell on the anxiety and stones sitting at the bottom of his stomach, Izuku grabbed the remaining pokéball off his desk and bent down towards Rattata. His knees pulled to his chest and arms hung down as he stared at the purple and cream furred pokémon, scarlet red eyes and whiskers gazing back at him. 

Izuku really wondered what went through a pokémon's brain.

Knocking himself out of his thoughts, Izuku pulled a smile onto his face. “Thank you a lot, you were a big help. Get some rest now, okay?” Izuku murmured, gently knocking the sphere against her head, watching as she vanished in a flash of red light. Here in one moment, gone the next.

Standing back up, slipping the pokéball into his pocket after shrinking it down, Izuku hauled his backpack onto his shoulders, groaning at the sudden weight now resting on his body. He readjusted the straps, having to shift his body a bit to let it rest comfortably before grabbing the key card, wallet, and his phone off of the desk to slip it into his pant pockets. Plopping down his hat onto the top of his mop of fluffy hair, he squished it down some so it would stay in place.

Looking down at Aruba, Izuku opened out his arms in the familiar motion, watching as she jumped into them, nestling into his arms as he closed them around her. 

“Well, ” Izuku started, taking a few steps towards the door before looking back at the empty room. Craning his head to check to see if he had forgotten anything, his viridian orbs failed to spot anything he forgot to grab. 

“We're off.”

  
  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━ 

  
  


It was a nice day, Izuku admitted, walking through the streets of the city.

Much of the sun had not risen yet from what he could see over the horizon line, but it was slowly doing so, casting very long shadows as the light rose from the east. The shadows hit the streets and the buildings he was walking down, casting the city in a soft golden glow. The streets were empty, void of anything but the pokémon he could see diving into alleyways or the Pidgey that were flying overhead or resting on powerline wires. Some cawed overhead as people along the street began to open shops, sweeping the fronts of their doors from the bustling of wind blowing through, sending up leaves or random candy wrappers that were unfortunately left out on the street, something he picked up and threw away at the nearby corner trash can whenever he found one. 

The air was crisp, not as humid as he thought it would be considering it is August, but maybe it would rise again in the afternoon he supposed. 

Turning the corner, Izuku prayed to himself that they would be open, slightly jogging down the concrete sidewalk. Careful to move out of the way of any people he may have passed by or hopping over the cracks, careful to not step on them. Glancing down to Aruba whose gaze was lingering on the wild pokémon. 

_(He did admit it would be nice to study some more flight patterns of the Pidgey’s but he didn't have time to do so.)_

Noticing the building, it's glass windows and doors surrounding the front of the post office with white walls bordering it. A trademark sign of Pidgey holding an envelope painted (or was it a sign?) in the wall. Izuku walked up to it, having not noticed any sign that may indicate that it is closed. 

Finding that the door was open, Izuku carefully opened it, careful to let himself create the most minimalistic noise as possible to avoid startling or just annoying someone if anyone was here at the moment. Holding it open with his feet as Aruba slipped inside and he gently closed it behind them, Izuku looked around. Noticing just how _different_ it was from those he saw back home. 

Feet transitioned from concrete to carpet and from fresh air to air conditioning, but it didn't seem to be on now that he realized he couldn't hear the familiar sound of a machine going. Flattened cardboard boxes line the walls, with table stations around the room. There was someone at the desk, but they seemed occupied or hadn't noticed so he didn't bother saying anything to alert them, and instead just let his eyes travel around the interior of the room.

Walking up to one of the tables set around in the room, Izuku noticed the stack of envelopes and the pen clipped to the plastic. 

“Alright,” Izuku furrowed his brows, picking up an envelope and a pen, flipping it over. “I'll just write the address I hope — and then just… turn it in? That sounds reasonable I suppose." 

He turned to Aruba down on the ground, “It's reasonable enough right?” 

Aruba nodded, and Izuku took it as enough confirmation. Writing down his address in black pen, careful to not let his words slip into Japanese characters out of habit. Slipping in one of his League Cards into the envelope, Izuku licked the seal and pressed the paper closed, running his finger over it to secure it the best he could. It would be devastating if the card escaped, and he didn't really know how hard it would be to get another copy.

Swallowing his nervousness down, Izuku walked up to the cashier at the front desk and gently knocking against the surface as a way of greeting, holding the envelope tightly in his hands, which caused the paper to crinkle slightly. Izuku watched as the cashier jumped out of their seat and whipped around, eyes darting around the office almost maniacally before their eyes locked onto him. Blinking slowly and shoulders relaxing, the cashier was clearly surprised at the sudden noise in the silent office, unaware of his presence in the small room.

“What do you want kiddo? Assuming you're here you want to send some mail?” The man questions, looking him up and down.

The uncomfortable feeling of his hairs rising was familiar, but Izuku just nodded, holding out the envelope to them. Keeping his eyes down and away, staring down at Aruba who was sitting down patiently on the carpet.

“Ohh wow!” they said, grabbing the envelope and staring at the address, “Shipping to Japan ey'? That place is rather far and may take about a week to ship, but we'll get it there as soon as possible! Since it's just an envelope, it'll cost about 16.51€ to ship there.” Pulling out a credit card reader from behind the desk where it previously sat out of view, the man set it on top of the counter, prompting Izuku to enter payment.

Pulling out his wallet, Izuku grabbed his card and held it against the device for a few seconds as the ‘approved’ message appeared across the screen. Tapping the confirmation button, Izuku watched as a flying Pidgey appeared across the screen.

“Thank you, kiddo! ” the cashier said, making Izuku's head snap back up, slipping his card back into its wallet and giving a nod in response.

“You're welcome, sir,” Izuku murmured, giving a brief small bow in response.

Turning away, Izuku beckoned to Aruba with a tilt off his head, giving an inward smile that she got the clue when she followed. Opening the door, Aruba passed by his shoes and out onto the street, the breeze ruffling her fur and his clothes as he followed along.

“Alright, we are onto the store and then Bella's okay? I'll make sure to buy a treat for all of us before we get going!”

“Eee!” Aruba chirped up, trailing beside his feet along the sidewalks. 

The sun was beginning to rise more, making it hard to see past the bright morning light as he squinted his eyes, lingering on the gleam of the sunlight on the walls. Bits and splotches of graffiti or artwork decorated them, almost seeming to illuminate even more as they were out of the darkness and now into the light. Dazzling colors were revealed; mixes of lights and darks blended and pulled together to make pieces that added character - added a sense of charm to the small city that —.

That—

Izuku thought about home.

He knows he shouldn't dwell on it, it's been maybe five days? He doesn't exactly remember, maybe it's more around a week now that he thinks about it, and yet, it feels so much longer than a week, like it's been a few months or more then seven days that had many things happen in them. 

It seems that time passes by slowly when you're homesick.

“Aruba,” Izuku asked out of the blue, his feet drawing to a stop in front of the pokémart, careful to keep his worry from bleeding into his tone. Ignoring the rising anxiety in his chest at the question formulating in his mind. “Do you think mom will like it?”

_(I did leave after all.)_

“Eee, Eevee, Vee!” Aruba replies, looking up at him.

Izuku closes his eyes, letting a small smile spread across his face despite how the warmth of tears filling his eyes was becoming a reoccurring thing.

He didn't understand what she said — he never would. Pokémon don't speak human languages and humans don't speak the pokémon language, but, he did get the gist — well, he hoped he did since it was an assumption.

“Thanks,” Izuku said quietly, walking into the pokémart, eyes darting around, “I needed that.”

  
  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━ 

  
  


Izuku's heart twists.

It isn't an unfamiliar feeling as it compresses in his ribcage, beating too loudly for his ears to comprehend the indecisive thudding noise. The feeling of uncertainty and nervousness clogging his throat and making it harder to breathe. Breath shuddering at moments having to shuffle down the panic attack threatening to rise despite their being nothing to worry about — nothing life threatening, just his own nervousness.

Swallowing seems like a chore to do in this moment with wavering hands and unsteady legs. Eyes staring up at the archway, an opening to the other side as concrete roads fading into paved dirt roads and the distinct separation of Route two from Viridian City — it rather the Viridian forest from what he can decipher on the sign signs. 

The looming poll pointing in directions of different places. Viridian City, Route 2, Viridian Forest, and Pewter City that almost dawn to him he's heading more into unexplored places. Places he hasn't visited and places that are larger than what his eyes could possibly see through the trees, spotting what could possibly be the messy out top of the mountain range in the west.

Yet, Izuku took a light step forward before snapping his head up back to clear blue skies and the shadows of flying-type Pokémon in the air, he almost felt calm. Ready to travel through whatever Route 2 offered before hitting Pewter City even though his body felt like it was going to collapse from the pressure of the unknown; he had his friends — his family to accompany him through the travels off the forest.

“Hey, Aruba?” Izuku asked, trying to quell his nerves a bit, fingers digging into his pocket to play with his phone. “Are you ready?” 

(He's not. Izuku knows.)

Aruba glances up at him before back at the daunting forest. Where trees stretch up high, shielding the view of the sky with branches long and covered in leaves. Where the distant fluttering of the wind passes by, almost muting and quieting the sounds of pokémon that may lurk there in the undergrowth itself.

“Ee, ” Aruba admits. She sounds unsure with her conviction until she looks back again. “Eee! Eeevee!”

Izuku let out a laugh, pumping his hand in the air with a smile on his face. Trying to ignore his heart pounding in his ears.

(They probably look strange to passersby)

“Alright!” Izuku chirps, taking tentative steps forward, passing by the threshold into a new area — a new beginning of a place that makes him scared, happy, and yet all the while excited at what to document and discover. What to catch and what to find in the foliage and the worn tree trunks standing tall. 

What will be in this new place? 

(Izuku doesn't know.)

Maybe that was better he supposed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spedicorn here! Sorry about the shorter than usual chapter after the long delay! Out brains kept jumping to the late game scenes, when we needed the groundwork done. I've been really busy irl as well, so this chapter isn't nearly as edited as it normally would be. If you see anything odd or something that needs to be explained, please point it out!
> 
> As always, stay safe and have a good day!  
> <3000


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's hard to believe that you aren't alone sometimes, but that's what family is there for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> — Heyo, Calvera here! Glad to see that we managed to get the 8th chapter posted — I had fun writing this, it was much easier after all. I hope everyone had a great Winter Break! I mostly just read manga and watched shows so nothing much. 
> 
> — This chapter is a bit filler arc ish, but it does progress the plot and the eventual next chapter of Pewter City! And we have a lot planned for the next chapter so stay tuned for that! oooooooo.
> 
> ~~~
> 
> A few notes about this chapter before it begins to hopefully kill any confusion before it happens. 
> 
> Please watch the dates. This chapter spans roughly a month and a half (look at a map of Kanto, route 2 is like half of the region), and Izuku is walking that on foot. It's not a straightforward path either, we've made it more like the anime where it's wilderness. To avoid boring the readers and to avoid the plot becoming repetitive, we will not be writing every little detail that Izuku does and encounters. The plan is for this series to take place over years; it would be impossible to write a fic that keeps readers engaged if we detailed out every single day Izuku experiences. 
> 
> And with that covered, let the chapter begin!

**Wednesday August 8th, 2210**

**Route 2, Kanto**

**10:15 AM**

  
  


Izuku let his hand drop onto the belt he had picked up at the pokémart, toying lightly with the three pokéballs on his right side. The belt was a deep black Tauros leather belt, and had three adjustable pokéball holders on both sides of the belt. His eyes darted around the forest, breathing in deeply and tasting the fresh air that he was becoming familiar with rather than the pollution filled air of Musutafu. It was almost strange, Izuku thought, how different air could taste where you go and travel after all.

_ It would be a good idea to have an extra few pairs of eyes in this large place _ now that Izuku thinks about it. Looking around at the way the trees stretch upward, making it hard to see the sky above from the canopy — noticing small pokémon (or maybe something else?) darting around. And, well, it would be good for them to stretch their legs — considering Pidgey has been asleep for a while.

Carefully slipping off the two red and white pokéballs, Izuku stretched out his arms and clicked them open, watching as both Rattata and Pidgey popped out in the open in a flash of red. Having to squint his eyes to avoid the combined sources of light blinding him.

“RATTATA!”

“PIDGEY!”

Izuku let out a cheery laugh, stretching out his arm for Pidgey to land on and watching as Rattata trotted over to Aruba, greeting each other with enthusiastic chirps. ba “Hello to you two too!” Izuku chirped up, watching as Pidgey scooted closer to his shoulder, feeling their talons slightly dig into thin red and black checkered fabric. ”We're out on Route 2 if you're wondering, ” Izuku explained, taking his eyes off of Rattata to look back up.

“It's a very big place, so we could use some extra eyes, but be careful about wandering too far, I don't know what is in these woods, ” He explains, letting his arm dip down to his side and clip the two pokeballs in his hands onto his belt.

(Or rather, this route.)

He notices a lot so far — in maybe the few minutes they have been walking (maybe it's been longer, time feels slow). That everything is somehow pristine — the road well kept and paved as he walks — not as many boulders or rocks he could see that obstructed the pathway. That every time he opens his mouth the scent of Earth and freshly rained on grass fills his nostrils, tasting it in the back of his throat. 

It's pretty calming.

He should probably pull out his phone and send some photos to mom, she did always tend to like them — and even though she was busy, she did always manage to wrangle some time to talk. 

Pulling out his phone from his pocket, Izuku typed in the password and clicked on the camera app, carefully holding the device as he scanned around, wondering what to take a picture off, before ultimately settling on snapping photos of the woods and his pokémon. Playing around with lighting exposure and shutter speed as he did so.

Hearing something rustle near them, Izuku drew to a halt suddenly, eyes snapping over to the source of the noise. Curiously creeping forward towards the rustling bush; Pidgey having hopped off of his shoulder and now right next to him, also looking curious, Izuku slipped his phone back into his pocket. His hand falling down next to one of the empty pokéballs there as he crouched down towards the bush, a bit hesitant on finding out what may be there.

The bush shook again, a bit more forcefully this time before popping out of the bush

Izuku tumbled back in surprise with a small yelp, eyes widening and arms flailing as he struggled to regain balance as the backpack on his shoulders was weighing him down. Flopping onto the ground after just giving in, soon after immediately sitting up as fast he could without giving whiplash, having slipped his arms out of the bag along with unbuckling the belts so it could lay down into the paved ground, Izuku stared at the pokémon in wonder. Legs stretched out in front of him and emerald eyes trained onto the strange pokémon in front of him. 

They seemed a bit feisty, looking at Pidgey and trying to tower over them even if they appeared to be more of the same height. With green plates, a tab underbelly that had small ligaments attached to it, and a sort of red atanae on top of their head shaped into a "y”. 

(A bug pokémon maybe?)

Aruba and Rattata just stared, with Aruba coming up to him with a small head bump into his arm.

“Hi!” Izuku chirped, staring at the Pokémon that had proceeded to jump back a few once beady black eyes landed on him. Something Pidgey took delight in gloating back with their puffed up chest and proud face. (Were they natural enemies of some sort? Pidgey never really acted this boastful before.) 

Pulling out his pokédex from his pocket, Izuku flipped the device on and let it scan them, keeping a curious eye locked on them.

**_“Caterpie, the Worm pokémon. A bug type pokémon. Its short feet are tipped with suction pads that enable it to tirelessly climb slopes and walls. If you touch the feeler on top of its head, it will release a horrible sink to protect itself.”_ **

Izuku blinked, turning off the device and slipping it back into his pocket with a thoughtful look. “That's interesting,” he mumbled, quite curious to know what his new pokémon could do. Caterpie didn't appear all that strong, but maybe there was some hidden potential there? He wasn't really sure.

Kneeling down and stretching out a hand, Izuku developed a friendlier approach as to not scare the pokémon off, seeing as the bug looked like they were ready at any moment to flee. “Hi,” the trainer chirped, his enthusiasm at meeting yet another new pokémon coloring his voice. “My name is Izuku! This is Aruba, Rattata, and Pidgey!” Izuku counted off, gesturing to each of them as he said their names, giving a bright, beaming smile towards the scared bug pokémon. 

He was nervous — seeing as Caterpie was a new pokémon he had yet to meet, let alone see them fight, but the pokémon seemed to be warming up relatively quickly. He wanted to make them comfortable — it was his first experience here on the route. They also didn't seem as hostile — so maybe a weaker pokémon? 

(What if he made a wrong move?)

“I'm just passing through — but you're the first new pokémon I've seen in the Route,” Izuku whispered yelled, his hands waving around, creeping tentatively forward towards the green and tan pokémon, who had slowly relaxed the longer the Japanese trainer rambled. 

“Can you —  ¶ _ oh Arceus what is the word? _ _ ¶  _ —” Izuku hesitated, searching for the word in Kantonese, his mind drawing a blank. Furrowing his brows and glancing towards Aruba who gave a tilt off her head, offering for no answer much to his chagrin. 

Giving a shrug off his shoulders, Izuku stood back up, leaning on the soles off his feet and looking down with a hand outstretched. “Well, I can't seem to find it, but you are quite a cool Pokémon, so I hope we can become friends or family! Do you want to just tag along with us? Unless you want to battle us and join the team that way? I don't mind, but maybe in a different area rather than on the path?” Izuku rambled, giving a small chuckle and furrowed glance at the paved ground, but there was also the fact that he didn't want to stray from the path  _ too much  _ and get lost. Yet, it would be better to battle off of the path considering they were still near the entrance of the route.

Carefully watching Caterpie, seeing that his Pokémon were chatting with the bug type, Izuku wondered what they would choose to do. Wandering back to his bag that he had slipped off when he first began talking to the wild pokémon, before a tug at his shoelaces stopped him, making him almost jerk suddenly before realizing it was just the Caterpie with its mouth on his shoelace.

“Do you want to battle us?” Izuku asked with a tilt off his head, “I'm not going to force you or anything — you are friendly enough as it is.” 

The Caterpie chirped, shaking its head to the side. It was a strange sound Izuku admitted to himself, almost like a squeal that was toned down. Was it something to warn off predators? Could it be admitted into a louder frequency? 

Noticing the pokémon was bobbing its head now, Izuku blinked in surprise  _ (did they really want to come?) _ and pulled out one of the spare pokéballs kept inside his pockets, bending down to sit on the back of his shoes. Clicking the button and watching it enlarge into the palm off his hand, Izuku held out the capsule toward the pokémon, nervous that he misunderstood the action and was overstepping his bounds. 

This was a new way to catch pokémon Izuku noted — one willingly out in the wild wanting to be captured. Mostly what he remembered of what his previous teachers taught; not that he actually had the class with Aldera's bigoted ways, he only heard snippets of information in the hallways — that you had to fight pokémon until they were weak or fainted to capture them. 

(Maybe that wasn't the case though. Rattata willingly went with him once they were taken care off and maybe Caterpie would.)

Izuku made sure to keep his hand steady, even if it was noticeable that he was trembling, causing Aruba to press her own body against his leg in silent support. A nervous smile bloomed across his face as he gently ran a hand through her fur, keeping his eyes on Caterpie who looked almost nervous as well. A silence fell around the group. Well, except for Pidgey who was chirping rather loudly — maybe calling encouragement? And Rattata who also seemed to be chatting with them.

Well, whatever Pidgey and Rattata said made Caterpie turn away from them in a huff and press their 'y' shaped horn into the button, and the worm pokémon faded away into the pokéball with a flash of red light. Izuku tightened his grip as the ball began to shake in his hands, watching as the pokéball moved almost erratically before stopping. Clicking with finality that signaled he captured Caterpie.

He gave a laugh, standing back up and stretching out his arms into the air, leaning back with a cheer. “We captured a Caterpie, guys!” Izuku said loudly, his eyes shining in wonder and what they could do. 

(What were their moves? What was their evolution pattern like? Did they evolve more?)

He felt giddy. That kind of giddy he felt when Mom bought a new hero figurine for him unexpectedly when he was waiting for it ‘till his birthday or Christmas. Or when he saw a new hero on TV, watching as they took down villains with their own team of pokémon, wanting to mimic their moves with his own dramatic flare as he watched behind the screen with a blanket tied around his neck like a cape.

The warmth spread throughout his limbs in the August morning sun, happy that he had caught a new pokémon - a new partner and a new friend to finally go and explore with on the route. 

(He wanted them to become family.)

Releasing Caterpie back out, Izuku clipped the pokéball to his belt and bent down, giving Caterpie a small head rub (oh, the plates  _ were  _ soft) before turning back to his backpack. 

Hoisting it up onto his shoulders with a muffled groan that the weight of it was back. A few adjustments later, Izuku turned back to Caterpie and found the green plated bug socializing with the rest of the crew. The urge to snap a photo of the moment — to retain it in his head forever was a very persistent feeling that he ended up caving in and he took a few photos before slipping his phone back into his pocket with a satisfied smile.

“Welcome to the group Caterpie!” Izuku chirped, flashing a peace sign down below at them.

He supposed the chatter they responded back was some sort of agreement? He didn't really know, it was hard to decipher what pokémon said when he was still trying and struggling to understand a pattern of speech. 

Giving a small hum in thought, Izuku took back off walking down Route 2 with his pokémon in tow. A pep in his step as he looked around, keeping his eyes open for anything that could catch his eye, even though the forest almost seemed to be quiet, if the indication that he could hear his shoes crunching against the paved ground was any indication of it.

The weather was beginning to warm up the longer they walked, making the stifling humidity clingy to his body. Trying to not let his thoughts linger on the feeling of sweat beginning to drip down his forehead and the heavy pressure in the air, focusing more on the scenery around them as the trees seemed to be getting more thick in foliage the further they traveled. The paved ground almost began to turn a bit more bumpy with each few meters now that Izuku noticed it. 

Glancing back to the pokémon behind him, eyes softening a bit as he watched the four chat between each other. Caterpie seemed to be getting tired though and Izuku had a feeling that it wasn't all that built for walking long distances much like how Aruba and Rattata was used to it and Pidgey had taken to the sky to fly close to them. It did have small segmented legs that moved individually now that he noticed it or that it's mid-body would scrunch up in an arc before straightening out, shuffling forward. (Did they have other evolutions then with the same body type?)

Pausing in his steps, Izuku took the initiative to pick up the bug type pokémon. Bending down, wincing at the straps of the bag digging sharply into his shoulders and grabbed Caterpie around its’ torso, Izuku carefully hoisted them up into the air, chuckling at how they slumped down in defeat with their small legs flailing in the air in surprise at the fact that they weren't walking on the ground, yellow and black eyes widening at the sudden increase of altitude. 

“Ah — don't worry Caterpie! I'm just picking you up,” Izuku rambled, carefully positioning them both hands so they didn't wiggle around as much anymore as he straightened back up - he didn't want to accidentally drop them after all. “You're not exactly built to walk long distances, so it's good to save your energy! I hear Viridian Forest is really big! But I've never been there so I don't know,” he continued, tilting his head a bit.

It's not that Bella wasn't helpful, but much of what she said slipped past his mind in terms of size and only left directions in where to go. 

“ _ Go north on Route 2, you can cut through Viridian Forest or stay on the path until you hit Diglett's Cave. Once you reach it, follow the path north east to get to Pewter City _ .”

Izuku didn’t even know how long they would even be out traveling in the forest to explore, capture other pokémon and document what he sees with the linear path described by Bella. After all, how big was the Viridian Forest? It seemed big considering how long Route 2 appeared, but that also didn't amount to much either. How big was Diglett's Cave? Was it also a linear pattern or was there a cave system he could get lost in? 

There were so many questions buzzing in his mind not only about the region as a whole but for this route alone because there seemed to be so much here in this forest pathway leading him onwards in his journey. There was so much life that it almost felt so surreal — so amazing that he was truly here in this place that felt so wide and open compared to the city of skyscrapers and buildings he woke up too each day for the majority of his life. There were mountains constantly from what he could see to the north and west, and the scent of fresh air felt so different from what he was used to back in Mufaftsu. 

Everything felt so new, so  _ free _ . 

Izuku doesn't think he'll ever get used to this feeling. 

Blinking his eyes rapidly, trying to ignore the tears that were brought front by his mind, Izuku gazed up ahead, trying his best to discern if anything was going to go amidst the foliage or see anything that may be new — like another Caterpie! Or the different cawing sounds he kept hearing fluttering around in the forests, sounding much more controlled yet more feral than what Pidgey's call was. It was loud too, probably a few more notches up then what a Pidgey sounded like — so maybe it was another flying type Pokemon since it sounded above the treeline? Or maybe it was another pokémon that could imitate sounds? 

There are so many endless possibilities that Izuku had to stamp down his urge to pull out his notebook and begin scribbling his ideas down, he didn't want to hold up them walking towards Viridian Forest. It would be a good idea to slow down and eat some of the premade food he packed for lunch however — since it seemed to be nearing that time of the day anyway.

Pulling out his phone, Izuku fumbled with the device as he turned it on. Eyes drifting towards the clock time of “ **11:55 A.M** ” staring back at him, Izuku nearly dropped his phone in surprise at the fact that it was already so late and almost two hours have passed from when they just entered the Route.

Huh, so it was already lunch time.

He turned to the three Pokemon, peering down at Caterpie with a smile before looking back up.

“So who's up for lunch?”

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Wednesday August 8th, 2210**

**Route 2, Kanto**

**3:00 PM**

Izuku eyed the white sign placed to direct trainers at the fork in the road, debating on which way to go. The white wooden sign was composed of two pieces of wood. The top piece of the sign was a square and had a blue hexagon with the words “Route 2” in big bolded Kantonese. The second piece was a long, thin hexagon shaped piece of wood with the names “Viridian Forest” on the left and “Diglett’s Cave” on the right. The left and right edges to the sign were painted the same blue as before, giving the appearance of arrows. 

“So what do you think guys?” Izuku questioned, looking back at his motley team of pokémon. “Do we want to go north through Viridian Forest or head east to Diglett’s Cave? Based on our typings, we’d probably have an easier time in Viridian Forest than Diglett’s Cave, and Bella did say that cutting through Viridian Forest would take less time than going to the cave.“ Izuku’s thoughts continued to race as he began mumbling about the pros and cons of each direction, unable to make up his mind as he speculated what advantages his pokémon would have in each area based on their typing against what he could guess from the names of the locations.

His mind was made up for him as he felt a tug from his left shoe and pants leg, and he looked down just to see Rattata and Aruba pulling his forward in the direction of Viridian Forest. 

Chuckling at their manipulations, Izuku made small talk and observations as the ragtag group continued north for about a mile before the narrow dirt path slowly widened and became stone.

Curious, Izuku picked up the pace, rounding a slight bend in the road to see a grey and yellow brick building in between wooden rope fences. 

Izuku stared up at the building, tilting his head to the side in confusion as to what a random building was doing out on Route 2 — then again, it had a manicured front lawn along the stone path he was standing on. Bushes neatly trimmed and the grass around much neater than the wild undergrowth of the forest that loomed over the wooden fences stretching from as far as he could see. A sign was stuck into the ground — white with black text that made him pause.

" **VIRIDIAN FOREST RANGER CENTER** ," it read. What was a ranger?

As Izuku neared the building, he noticed more of the details. Two columns sprouted from the ends of the stairs centered in the wall, holding up a small covering made of the same dark brown wooden planks that the roof was made of. The color of the columns and the foundation of the building was a grey shade he didn't know the name of, but it was a nice enough tone — not too bright, not too dark as the sunlight casted down upon the walls. Looking up, he noticed the row of windows at the top, from what he assumed was a second floor.

Swallowing down his nervousness, Izuku looked to his pokemon. "Alright guys, time to head back inside you balls —" he caught Pidgeys indignant look and gave a sigh, "— I'll release you out as soon as this is over with alright? I just need to know what's inside and if we can pass into the other area." 

Raiding the empty pokeballs, Izuku opened them, watching them vanish away with a simple flash of red light and he clipped them onto his belt. Giving a fond pat on top of them once secured, he let a smile flutter across his face and turned to Aruba who jumped up to him when prompted. The trainer caught her and rubbed the fur between her ears before plopping her on top of his shoulder, her wide brown eyes inquisitive.

"Alright, inside we go," Izuku murmured to himself, taking a deep breath before climbing up the small set of stairs, eyes darting around the small porch before settling on the doors.

Turning the door knob, Izuku went inside, blinking his eyelids as he readjusted to the artificial light now being added amongst the windows that had already poured in sunlight. 

His body straightened up as he looked around, noticing a few people sitting amongst the benches off to the right side near the potted plants. Glancing at the fluffy cream and orange canine pokémon currently settled among one of their laps before he pulled his eyes away to look around. A staircase was off to his left, leading to the second floor and another doorway straight ahead to what he assumed is a more of a check-in area, considering the desks he could somewhat spot. 

Walking towards the desk, Izuku took in the people behind the desks and the large windows lining the wall that allowed for a view of the greenery outside. He could see the deep greens of the forest’s ecosystem, and he had to look away before he got distracted, refocusing on the people stationed behind the desk. Tilting his head at the orange and black color scheme of the outfits of the two people that he could see stationed here, working away with two laptops perched on the desk. 

"Hello there, Trainer!" One of the figures said suddenly, making his head snap towards them quickly as his eyes landed on the cheerful woman behind one of the desks, giving a small wave. An orange cap squished down on her brown bangs and hair pulled into a ponytail as she turned to him with curious and sharp eyes that made him fight the urge to squirm. He never really liked having attention to himself, let alone one as sharp as hers. "You must be new here! Well, a lot of trainers are anyway, but you look foreign!" 

Izuku swallowed and gave a timid smile at that as he walked forward, inwardly cursing his trembling hands. He didn't really know how to reply, so he just kept silent. 

"Well! Let me explain the procedure here! First you’ll give me your Trainer ID and I will scan it; you'll be logged into the system once I do!" She cheerfully said, holding up a scanner and clicking the small button on the grey device. 

"System?" Izuku echoed, pulling out his phone and grabbing his ID to do what she said. 

"Yep!" She said, popping the 'p' with a grin and raising up an arm as a way of adding onto her explanation, a sly smile overcoming her lips as she pinned him with her eyes. "It essentially allows us to keep track of you — say if you commit an offense or do something, this would allow us to flag your ID and, depending on the severity of the infraction, could inhibit you for the rest of your journey! You can even go to jail or maybe even get judgement from the Champion depending on the offense."

Izuku looked away worriedly at the information as his small smile was now more scared than nervous. His body tilting a bit as Aruba rubbed her cheek with his in reassurance. 

A sigh sounded from the other figure, making him turn to stare at a man sitting at the other desk. His head was propped up on one arm that was braced against the dark wooden desk - the same as wood as the roof Izuku noted. The man's eyes, while sporting deep purple eye bags, still had a sharp edge to them, looking him over despite the awkward angle of having to pear at Izuku sideways. "Stop scaring the new kid, Avari — kid you probably can't even throw a punch so you're fine. It essentially just logs you into the database for safety purposes." 

"Alright," Izuku croaked out, not really knowing how to respond but appreciating the reassurance. 

Turning back to the lady, he watched as she scanned his card, hearing a small ping from the computer before he withdrew his arms back to his side. Worriedly twiddling with his ID as he waited, listening to her type away at the laptop in front of her. 

"Annnndddd — drumroll please!" 

No one did a drum roll.

"—You both are no fun! Anyway, you are all set...” the ranger, Avari he remembered, took a second to read his information off the screen, “Izuku! If you head out that door you are out onto Viridian Forest. There are signs that will direct you to and from areas you are allowed to visit with your current badge level. You may see rangers patrolling, but Viridian Forest is very large so you won't see them often. Have fun, kiddo!" 

It took a bit of mental deciphering for Izuku to understand whatever she said since it came out in a waterfall of words, but he gave a nod nevertheless.

Remembering his manners a few seconds later, he gave a short and quick bow to her in politeness and did the same with the man at the desk. As he rose out of the bow, he noticed that the man was staring at him with a raised eyebrow and almost confused look; Avari doing the exact opposite and recuperating it with a smile and a peace sign.

A flush rose to his cheeks at the Japanese mannerism, but he squished it down. He was still adapting. "Thank you for your help!" Izuku chirped, spinning on his heel and heading towards the door with a pep in his step and a smile on his face.

  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Wednesday August 15th, 2210**

**Viridian Forest, Route 2, Kanto**

**1:15 PM**

Izuku leaned back against one of the many trees surrounding the clearing, shuffling around to find a comfortable position so that the bark wouldn't dig into his spine. 

He wasn't all that hungry, surprisingly, but Izuku feels that's more because his anxiety was acting up causing him not to eat so that he could focus more on keeping a look out for anyone or anything. His eyes stayed alert and open as they darted around in the grassy clearing that they had settled in to eat lunch and rest. 

Azure skies seemed to continue endlessly over the grassy clearing, normally unable to be seen by the inhabitants of the forest due to the thick foliage. Izuku could see a few hazy clouds drifting by, stretched apart almost like wisps in the wind with a few definitive shapes in the sky. Blinking rapidly, Izuku failed to ignore just how bright and harsh the August sunlight was when they were out of the shade as his clothes stuck to him, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of a week’s worth of grime rubbed at his skin or the feeling of sharp grass prick at his exposed legs. 

Casting his eyes away from the sky, Izuku focused on Aruba and Pidgey in the grass of the clearing, watching as they tussled playfully together and rolled around in the grass, having scarfed down their food and probably needed to burn off some pent up energy. They seemed to be having fun so Izuku didn't see a need to interject and stop the play fighting. Darting his eyes towards his other pokémon. Rattata and Caterpie seemed to be chatting together as they slowly enjoyed their  poké chow, Izuku absently wondered what the two were talking about underneath the shade of the tree.

The world seemed to be so quiet and still in the little clearing amongst the trees of Viridian Forest - from the breeze rustling the leaves up ahead, whistling between the branches and adding a splash of humid heat that brushed against his freckled skin in the shade. The silence that was almost daunting to him now that he focused on it.

“It's quiet, ” Izuku couldn't help but murmur to himself as quietly as he could, scared to break the silence. 

He didn't feel much like moving his phone to scroll or read through something — maybe he’d send a few more messages and photos to Gary or Mom just to distract himself; he already snapped photos of the clearing already and trying to focus on writing or reading in the summer heat made him lose concentration before he even started.

Giving a sigh, Izuku lazily blinked his stinging eyes, wondering if he was tired or it was just the week of heat getting to him. Stretching a hand towards his backpack and zipping open one of the smaller pockets, Izuku dug around before grabbing onto one of the bags he got from Viridian city’s shops, having yet to sort and organize the objects despite a week passing. Plastic grasped between his fingers, Izuku pulled the bag out and settled back down before taking a look at what he’d grabbed.

Oh right! 

The bag contained a multitude of different colored yarn. He had seen them in passing and was curious about what the threads of yarn were for. Impulsively, Izuku randomly selected a bunch of colors and bought them, and now he was left with many different threads of yarn now sitting at the bottom of the bag. 

What could he even use these for? It's not like he had an idea in mind when he impulsively bought it, it was just pretty to look at. 

Groaning, Izuku furrowed his brows, trying to ignore the bright glare of his phone as he searched up ideas of what he could use the yarn for. Izuku ignored how the reception out in the wilderness was slow, it was still working so that was all that really mattered. Searching for craft projects he could do that didn't require many tools because he wasn't in the confines of a house now, Izuku thought it would be a good idea to find a long term project to use the yarn for. 

Many of the ideas didn't catch his eye as he scrolled down the tab. He didn't have sewing needles or crochet sticks to manipulate the thread — and it looked much too thin anyway for something like knitting in the first place. 

Well, Izuku's index finger hovered open the webpage link, there seemed to be one thing that caught his eye. It was a sort of bracelet pattern that required thread — there were actually a lot of patterns with more variety than he thought would be possible for just thread. Some were plain with simple designs, while others were more technical with multiple colors and different interloping threads from what Izuku could see in the photograph — squinting hard to see what it was saying. 

Did that mean he could make friendship bracelets? 

Izuku's eyes widened at the idea, barely containing the gasp that almost fluttered out of his lips even if his eyes gleamed in excitement, and a smile bloomed on his face at the thought of crafting and creating friendship bracelets for everybody. He could even send one to Mom! And Gary! Well, he would ask Gary first because he still isn't too sure where they stood. Maybe he could send one to Dad? 

(Hisashi never really responded to his text messages, but it wouldn't hurt to try.) 

Staring at the pictures, he wondered which one to do first. He did want to create one for every one he knew — but he didn't know exactly what everyone wanted as in terms of colors or pattern, and he didn't want to ask because it was going to be a gift and Izuku didn't want to spoil the gift so he would have to keep it too himself. 

The onslaught of thoughts in the summer heat made Izuku give a haughty pout at his overthinking. 

They were going to spend a lot of time here anyway, so he had time to decide and create, and that was the best part. 

Glancing up, Izuku let his viridian eyes dart around the clearing to linger on Aruba and Pidgey who, after settling down, laid next to Rattata and Caterpie. All seemed to be taking an afternoon nap if the slow rising chests and lack of motion underneath the shade was any indication.

A smile bloomed on his face at the sight. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately now that he thought about it — smiling. Being happy. Having fun. 

It was almost unfamiliar to him.

( _ Because you aren't supposed to be—) _

His breath choked up at the thought, and Izuku quickly let out a muffled cough into his sleeve, trying not to think anything sad or let his mind regress back into those thoughts that had been fluttering away the more often when he was occupied. Blinking back rising tears that sprung up in his eyes, Izuku calmed himself down, trying not to awake them and make his eyes sting even more. He had a project to do after all and he couldn't slack off!

Sticking his tongue out, Izuku got to work.

  
  
  


━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

  
  


Viridian Forest was large — well it was huge actually.

It's not every day he finds himself in the middle of a route, about to step into a forest that spans nearly a quarter of the region. While it reminded him of the one park he used to play at when he was younger. The main difference, besides the obvious size and location differences, is that the forest is much more dangerous — it was unknown to him and there were no other people nearby — only him and his pokémon with no signs of man other than the occasional sign he saw. With branches full of thick leaves stretching high into the atmosphere from what he could see, concealing most of the blue sky that stretched overhead as the sunlight cast through the trees with sunset soon approaching much to his chagrin and disappointment, Viridian Forest seemed to never end. Izuku did his best to focus on ahead to plant a campsite before going off to explore and see what this place has to offer — his mind itched to find out what lurked here was going haywire with the need to figure out how this place was structured and why the air felt different.

But it was nearing night time anyway, so camp was the first priority then going off to explore. 

And maybe he did wake up way too early the next morning, dragging everyone out of their slumber with a loud cheer and arms stretched high above his head in excitement. Eyes wide and his pencil flying over the lined paper in his notebook, creeping through the grass that brushed his skin with featherlight touch, making sure to keep as quiet as he could as he carefully took notes and tried not to scare any surrounding pokémon, even if he had a feeling they already wandered off away when they sensed him.

Everything was just so new!

New sights! New areas! New pokémon! Every corner he saw, peeking from the bark of the trees that dug into the palms of his hands as he peered down seeing his own pokémon and the few wild pokémon if they weren't shy, leaping and darting away when he got too close.

It wasn't that he didn't like Japan — he enjoyed the rush the city brought and the sights! How the unpredictability of the day could bring new hero fights and villains to be taken down, but the destruction always followed no matter the villain or situation was disheartening. It was scary to witness a store be there one day, and find it crushed overnight because the establishment got caught in the crossfire. 

He saw new pokémon walking through the streets each day as he used escapism to ignore the harsh realities of being quirkless in Japan, however pretending that the realities of Izuku’s situation did not make them any less real and only hurt in the long run.

Even now, Izuku had a feeling he was committing escapism even now, after leaving Japan, for wanting to go to another region even if he studied and learned the language for it. But it wouldn't do him good to dwell on that line of thought in a wild place like this: filled with a multitude of both secret and known areas to explore, even if there were warning signs sometimes near them that pointed out it was dangerous and unwise to walk into unprepared or without strong pokémon. That and the warning Rangers left — he knew they patrolled the area often enough, not that he really saw many people out here — he kept to himself (and the forest was really big after all).

He only found out why, exactly, there were areas that were warned against when he got chased by a pack of Beedrill after stumbling into one of the darker areas deeper in the forest unknowingly. He had to shed his belongings off to the side and jump into the lake he’d seen previously to avoid getting stung by their poisonous stingers. Izuku stayed under the surface so long he questioned if he was breathing at points, kept there by his fear and panic that had a vice grip on his mind and was in control, even if his body was screaming at him and felt as if it was slowly suffocating as the Poison Bee pokémon hovered overhead.

Izuku didn't try to venture into the areas again, sticking to the main parts of the forest that we're less gloomy and dangerous. 

( _ And if he had a nightmare about being killed by the hive, then no one had to know _ .)

For the most part, except for the Beedrill incident, it was calm, well as calm as a forest could be. 

The daily walks took him around to the river and the lake, where he swore he could see strange pokémon swimming under the surface but he had no way of getting to them because they swam away when he came near. But they looked really pretty — red and white scales from what he could see underneath the dark blue, reminding him of those fish dishes that were beautifully crafted in the photos he would see passing by fancy restaurants. 

He was almost tempted to dive in and search himself but even though it was August, Izuku could feel the fall chill creeping upon them as days turned into weeks and the summer month melted into September.

New pokémon soon found their way onto his roster as the days passed as well. Like Pikachu and Weedle — who they had battled, or the Spearow that had made friends with Pidgey one day and now stuck with them, soon being added to the growing crew with an energetic personality. Some evolved during training sessions or spars, like Caterpie that was now a Metapod and the Weedle that had evolved rather quickly into Kakuna. 

They evolved again soon after, a skirmish with a trainer that left his heart feeling full and his mouth ache from smiling so much after the win, despite Butterfree never battling after that fight; he had weak esteem after all and Izuku never wanted to push his luck of getting to battle or train Butterfree when he was already so reluctant. 

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

**Saturday September 8th, 2210**

**Viridian Forest, Route 2, Kanto**

**3:00 PM**

Everything was changing around him.

( _ And maybe a part of him is afraid because he's scared of what is to come—.)  _

Little things like his hair that he could almost subtly feel tickling his neck, or how much easier it was getting to carry his heavy bag around for long periods of time as they moved steadily closer, as weeks passed, to Pewter City. Or the friendship bracelets that he crafted, gifting them to each and everyone of his new teammates and watched with excitement as they pondered over it and stared at the thin yarn now pulled into patterns that fit their bodies loosely in case they evolved. The bracelets were fun to make and combining colors for them made him feel fuzzy on the inside as he made sure to snugly slide the gifts on the best he could with their appendages. 

It was almost daunting that they were soon going to leave Viridian Forest to go and challenge the gym leader of Pewter. 

The thought was a constant reminder that they needed to move as he cooked meals, trained, and texted his mom with photos and updates, always enjoying the interactions or phone calls even if the timezone difference didn't always make calling a common thing. Studying pokémon because flight patterns and different wing spans between flying types was amazing to watch as they moved differently in the air currents ahead. Pidgey had shorter, agility focused wings while Spearow had broader, larger flight feathers so they could fly longer distances and drift on air currents. Even bug types between his two different team members had similar traits in their second evolutions, such as the shells between Kakuna and Metapod; something he found interesting whenever he brought them out of their pokéballs when they were still in that evolution form. 

He didn't know much about genetics; many of the terms were too difficult and made his head spin if he pondered them for too long. It was the same with biology — a lot of terms he didn't understand outside of what he observed and put in his notebook. 

The notebook in question was filled with writing that looked gibberish as he kept confusing Japanese with Kantonese the longer he was away from home, leaving an almost inbred sort of language in his notebook, but he still managed to find it legible. 

Sighing, Izuku snapped his notebook shut, slipping the pen into his hoodie pockets and the book into his backpack, zipping the space back up. Standing up with aching bones as he did some stretches, trying to crack his sore joints as much as possible before the group went back to travelling.

Izuku gave a glance over to Aruba, the only one out of her pokéball, his eyes softening a bit. 

“Are you ready?” Izuku inquired. He doesn't think he's ready for the next step — then again, he never feels ready for it. As long as Aruba is ready then he's ready. 

Aruba glances at him; Izuku thinks her eyes can see through him the longer they hold eyes in the undergrowth underneath looming trees. Her brown eyes have always been inquisitive, always searching, always ready — it's a weird contrast when he's so hesitant because of his fear; yet they blend together like peanut butter and jelly on a sandwich. 

Was Aruba afraid at times? 

It's a strange thought to ponder, he doesn't think he's seen her afraid before because she's always moving. Always jumping and risking herself no matter the situation that he ends up joining in after her to make sure she's safe. 

Izuku doesn't think he's seen her falter. Standing strong even in the face of Kacchan's Cyndaquil and the other  poké mon that would hover over their place on the ground. 

She's always strong.

Izuku wishes he could be strong too.

Feeling something brush his legs, Izuku's eyes darted down seeing Aruba circling around his legs. Giving a huff of laughter as he bent down, running a hand through her fur as he rested upon his knees. 

"I was overthinking again, wasn't I?” Izuku questioned even though he knew the answer, receiving a nod in response that made his eyes crinkle in fondness. 

“Sorry, just wondering what's ahead.” Izuku admitted to some of his thoughts at her inquisitive look. “It is strange after all — well a lot of things are strange — but we're leaving this forest behind us. Onto another area — a new city. It's daunting to think about because I'm afraid, and yet I love this journey so much," Izuku revelas, closing his mouth abruptly as his head shifts away. “I'm probably annoying you with my rambling.” 

The silence between them feels suffocating that Izuku can't help but finish what he said. And maybe it's a distraction from his rambling thoughts that are always moving so fast that he wonders what they are saying half the time. Or maybe it's the fact his heart is beating too fast in his ribcage even if he feels no upcoming panic attack coming to take over his senses. 

“I — I really enjoy making friends. Seeing them become family,” he mutters, and it feels nice to finally say it, because he would risk it all for everyone to be safe. They are his family now and it feels so nice to say that out loud. 

He hesitates, swallowing the lead suddenly in his throat. “It's not lonely anymore.” 

Looking back at Aruba's eyes, he realizes she is too perceptive, too intuitive for her own good because her eyes say as much as he wants to hear already. They speak volumes as she stares right through him with their own brilliance making him see his own reflection in optics. 

Izuku feels tears bubbling behind his eyes threatening to overflow as he opens his arms out as an invitation. 

The familiar feeling of warmth comforts him as Aruba jumps into his arms, settling her head on his shoulder with his own body curling instinctively around her, letting the tears fall from stinging eyes. 

_ I'm not alone.  _

Izuku grips onto that phrase and promises to never let go. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~Spedicorn here! 
> 
> Happy New Year (late, I know). 
> 
> I'm taking the blame here and now for the month of silence - editing this was so hard for me, and I don't know why. I'm sorry for the wait. 
> 
> We weren't doing nothing though, we've been writing a lot of the later scenes. It's just the beginnings are really hard for some reason...
> 
> Moving on, we've created some non-canon ideas about regions and routes as I'm sure you devoted pokémon fans have noticed, and I just wanted to clear them up. 
> 
> Out first major change is our inclusion of rangers in Kanto. Pokémon Rangers haven't been prominent in the main series games, but they appear more frequently in the anime (and of course, the Pokémon Ranger game series, which are real fun). We have plans on incorporating the Rangers into our plot more (spoilers!) but you'll have to wait to find out! 
> 
> The second change is the areas that a trainer is allowed to explore based on their gym badge. A region is much bigger than what the games are capable of portraying, and there would obviously be more dangerous areas in the wild, whether that be because of the pokémon that live there or the elements, or both. A good example of this is Mt. Silver in the gen 2 games. The player couldn't go there until after they beat the post game storyline, for anyone unaware, because it's so dangerous. As Viridian Forest spans to the base of the mountain range that surrounds Kanto and is home to not only Victory Road and the Indigo League, but Mt. Silver as well, it is reasonable to think that the high level pokémon inhabiting the mountains would venture down into the forest, causing all the pokémon living closer to the mountains to be a much higher level that what appears in the games. Also, there is a massive list of pokémon that have appeared in this area throughout the different variations of Kanto that would be monitored, like the animal populations in national parks, for instance. Bulbasuar, Kangaskhan and Dratini have all appeared in one form or another, and would definitely need to be protected from poachers, so their habitats would be restricted from the general public for their safety and the safety of the pokémon living there.
> 
> Anyways, as always, have a great day/night where ever you are! I hope you and yours are doing well. Stay safe! 
> 
> <3000

**Author's Note:**

> Spedicorn here! Any feedback is highly appreciated, and we love seeing your comments and suggestions! Stay safe and have a great day! <3000


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